Questions about DTV channels/subchannels

Couple of questions crossed my mind. Wanna see if anyone can answer them:

(1) I always knew network affiliations to be exclusive. Now, though, I notice that here in the Mobile/Pensacola area, GRIT-TV is on WJTC 44.2 and also on WFNA 55.4, two separately owned stations. Why doesn't one have a market-exclusive on this program service? Same goes for LAFF, which appears on WKRG 5.4 as well as WALA 10.3.

(2) In the analog days, two TV stations could not occupy two adjacent channels in the same market... they had to be some distance apart, perhaps 60 miles? Once the repack scheme is completed, we will have three situations where stations are on adjacent channels: WFGX on 14, WPMI on 15 ... WDPM on 23, WSRE on 24 ...and WHBR on 34, WJTC on 35. I suppose digital transmission eliminates the need to put a lot of separation between adjacent signals. Back to the analog table: remember that a channel 4 and 5 could co-exist because there's an actual space of 4 mhz separating them... even more than that between 6 and 7.

J Alex Bowab said:

Couple of questions crossed my mind. Wanna see if anyone can answer them:

(1) I always knew network affiliations to be exclusive. Now, though, I notice that here in the Mobile/Pensacola area, GRIT-TV is on WJTC 44.2 and also on WFNA 55.4, two separately owned stations. Why doesn't one have a market-exclusive on this program service? Same goes for LAFF, which appears on WKRG 5.4 as well as WALA 10.3.

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There are examples of two different companies (owners) having agreements with diginets and one of those "perks" is the same diginet on 2 different stations. I see you have a Sinclair and a Nexstar station in the 1st example. Nexstar has an agreement with Katz (Grit, Bounce, Escape, Laff). Weird that Sinclair still has it on there since they dropped Grit and Get from their stations to add TBD (yes thats the name) and Charge!

(2) In the analog days, two TV stations could not occupy two adjacent channels in the same market... they had to be some distance apart, perhaps 60 miles? Once the repack scheme is completed, we will have three situations where stations are on adjacent channels: WFGX on 14, WPMI on 15 ... WDPM on 23, WSRE on 24 ...and WHBR on 34, WJTC on 35. I suppose digital transmission eliminates the need to put a lot of separation between adjacent signals. Back to the analog table: remember that a channel 4 and 5 could co-exist because there's an actual space of 4 mhz separating them... even more than that between 6 and 7.

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With digital as long as the towers arent more than X miles apart from each other (I want to say like 15 or 20 miles) it can be done. Here in Minneapolis (where I live) we have a few examples already
22 (WUCW CW) and 23 (KTCI PBS)
32 (WCCO CBS), 33 (Low powered station owned by DTV America), 34 (KTCA PBS) and 35 (KSTP ABC)

Down the road in Mankato, MN (which is its own DMA yet is just one station) they are on RF12 and are adding a RF13 to their existing tower (13 will be low powered)

Thanks for the clarification. In this market, Sinclair owns WEAR 3 ABC and WFGX 35 Mytv. Deerfield owns WPMI 15 NBC and WJTC 44 Ind.... Sinclair could not own all 4, hence the Deerfield situation, but Sinclair manages all of them. Sinclair did put TBD and Charge on the sub channels of WEAR3.

WKRG is Nexstar and WALA is Meredith (both carry Laff). WFNA is Nexstar and WJTC is Deerfield/Sinclair (both carry Grit).

This is a hyphenated market. The two cities are 55 miles apart, and in different states, but the transmitting towers are all clustered halfway between Mobile (AL) and Pensacola (FL)... so except when the local news is on, no one thinks of a station as belonging to one city or the other.