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NBC Boston rebrands as NBC10 Boston
- Thread starter ssetta
- Start date
Deja vu San Francisco all over again? I thought they'd learned their lesson with KNTV, calling it NBC 3 for their cable position instead of NBC 11 when they took it over.
This will cause confusion because: NBC Boston is distributed on several channels over the air, namely on low power WBTS-LP ch. 8, on WNEU TV 60, and on WMFP-TV 60.5, and soon to be on ch. 15. Also WJAR in Providence on ch. 10, whose signal has a lot of overlap with NBC Boston's stations.
I remember when NBC Bay Area was starting in 2002 I remember billboards in Solano County,CA already had an NBC affiliate on Cable 3 and it was KCRA Sacramento. But other Bay Area counties had KNTV on Cable 3 at the time of launch. Note KNTV on Xfinity 703 only applies to half of Solano county like Vallejo and Benicia. But the other half of Solano County like Rio Vista, Vacaville and Dixon they have KCRA on Cable 3 and its due to Solano being a split market
Isn't this a blatant trampling of FCC rules that have to do with overlap with stations having the same virtual channel numbers? Isn't that why Comcast/NBC applied for PSIP 15 for WYCN in the first place?
I'm just cynical enough to believe that Comcast/NBC is doing this deliberately to annoy/frustrate/anger Sinclair....who just happens to own WJAR-10.
In a possibly related issue.....Is anyone else having OTA reception difficulties with WGBX-44? I normally don't have problems picking up WGBX, but now for the past several days and nights, there have been periods when I get "no signal". Could it possibly be part of technical work to accommodate WYCN?
It is safe to say one year in that NBC Boston has been a trainwreck.
They decided that the new channel would take over NECN's slots on Xfinity systems (10, 810) instead of dealing with local access channels in SD and WLVI which is 808.
NBC 8 would have created less confusion south and west of the city with WJAR which is Channel 10 and also happens to be NBC.
They are hampered with a studio carved out at NECN that gives the newscasts a cable access look. That will be resolved when they move to Needham in 2019.
I have heard that NBC/Comcast has talked to Sinclair on a trade with NBC offering Hartford for Providence but Sinclair wants San Diego instead.
I think a year later most are surprised that WHDH-7 has done much better than expected and NBC Boston has gained zero traction in any daypart for local news.
They decided that the new channel would take over NECN's slots on Xfinity systems (10, 810) instead of dealing with local access channels in SD and WLVI which is 808.
NBC 8 would have created less confusion south and west of the city with WJAR which is Channel 10 and also happens to be NBC.
They are hampered with a studio carved out at NECN that gives the newscasts a cable access look. That will be resolved when they move to Needham in 2019.
I have heard that NBC/Comcast has talked to Sinclair on a trade with NBC offering Hartford for Providence but Sinclair wants San Diego instead.
I think a year later most are surprised that WHDH-7 has done much better than expected and NBC Boston has gained zero traction in any daypart for local news.
Remains to be seen how things will look after the repacking is done. Comcast has an application to move the WNEU transmitter to Rte 128 from Goffstown which would mean WBTS-LD no longer has a reason to exist.
Well all is said and done Ed Ansin has survived this quite nicely.
If this is the case, then it would lend some credibility to my theory that some sort of peeing contest is going on between Comcast/NBC and Sinclair over WJAR.
It occurs to me that Comcast/NBC might have sugar-plum dreams dancing in their heads of one unified "NBC-10" branding.....From Newport to Newburyport......From Provincetown to Goffstown.
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I'm sure that is their goal.
Frank Coletta is going to blow a gasket some morning over one too many Sinclair news inserts on WJAR
Funny you should mention Frank Coletta.
We here in southern New England are regularly treated to the sometimes prickly personality of Mr. Coletta.
Here are just a couple of examples.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd_8KBVYUqw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Tsgltw6Pc
We here in southern New England are regularly treated to the sometimes prickly personality of Mr. Coletta.
Here are just a couple of examples.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd_8KBVYUqw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Tsgltw6Pc
Funny you should mention Frank Coletta.
We here in southern New England are regularly treated to the sometimes prickly personality of Mr. Coletta.
Here are just a couple of examples.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd_8KBVYUqw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Tsgltw6Pc
Frank is a loose cannon and is secure knowing his pension is guaranteed by General Electric.
Providence has become a very weak market for local ad sales. Hearst had the chance to buy WLNE for pettytt cash and declined.
WJAR moving studios to Cranston was classic Rhode Island tribal warfare. The story I have heard is that Buddy Cianci was going to up WJAR's property tax bill and not only did WJAR flee to Cranston they sold their studios to a college that would be exempt from the tax.
NBC Boston's biggest headache is getting coverage in Bristol County in MA which is considered part of the Providence market. All the other Boston legacy stations are grandfathered in but WBTS isn't.
What is curious is one year in WBTS is performing as well as WHDH did with network shows but viewers have perhaps sampled NBC Boston News and gone elsewhere for local. WHDH-7 is third at 11 and WBTS is at the bottom.
WFXT is another trainwreck but that was self inflicted when Cox decided they didn't need Maria.
I think you already have the answer to this question back in post number 12.
My guess is that local news viewers in Boston / Manchester are just as tribal as local news viewers are in New Bedford / Providence.
This is probably why WTEV / WLNE has been in last place in New Bedford / Providence local news for the last 55 years (today is the 55th. anniversary of sign-on), and probably will be......F O R E V E R ! ! !
WTEV/WLNE made the fatal mistake of going after Rhode Island and ignoring the Southcoast and Cape Cod when they moved the studio from New Bedford to Providence.
Before cable came along someone with rabbit ears in Pawtucket could get 2, 4, 5, 7, 10 and 12 with no problem but 6 not exactly.
I still believe if WLNE moved their studio back to New Bedford and focused on southeastern Massachusetts they would hold their own.
Hearst passing on WLNE spoke volumes - maybe they were spooked by the failure of WMTW in Portland making a dent in that market.
What I find curious today is WBTS (NBC Boston) does many live reports from Bristol County, MA where most cable viewers can't get the station.
NBCBoston using ch 10 has to be to intended to promote the cable channel assignment (10/810) on most of the Boston market systems, and move away from referring to OTA ch 8, which will most likely go away at the repack. Some systems in the southern part of the market carry WJAR, but on a higher number like 99 (Norwood, Westwood, etc.), so it won't affect those WJAR viewers.
It is really not a good move now for OTA viewing - if anything, it is encouraging OTA viewers to watch WJAR on 10, rather than WBTS on ch 8. Soon they will be using 15-1 (on WGBX) instead of 60-5 (WMFP) for the full market signal, but will still have the best video quality on ch 8-1. However, once the WNEU signal is moved to Needham (unless the FCC does not approve), they will probably apply to move 15-1 there, with full video quality, and drop the sharing with WGBX. There would also not be much reason to keep WBTS as that point, assuming there is even an available channel for it after the repack. So eventually we may be seeing NBCBoston 10 /15... The mind boggles...
It is really not a good move now for OTA viewing - if anything, it is encouraging OTA viewers to watch WJAR on 10, rather than WBTS on ch 8. Soon they will be using 15-1 (on WGBX) instead of 60-5 (WMFP) for the full market signal, but will still have the best video quality on ch 8-1. However, once the WNEU signal is moved to Needham (unless the FCC does not approve), they will probably apply to move 15-1 there, with full video quality, and drop the sharing with WGBX. There would also not be much reason to keep WBTS as that point, assuming there is even an available channel for it after the repack. So eventually we may be seeing NBCBoston 10 /15... The mind boggles...
Are there Split Counties or areas that happen to be both the bedroom communities of both Boston and Providence?
I'm amazed that New England also has their version of Solano County,CA. Where I'm from Solano county is the commuter county for Sacramento and San Francisco. And we had that same situation when KNTV was changing owners from Granite to NBC and we were amazed that we had two NBC affiliates claiming Channel 3. Note KCRA 3 Sacramento is the Hearst owned NBC affiliate that happens to cover Solano County.
I'm amazed that New England also has their version of Solano County,CA. Where I'm from Solano county is the commuter county for Sacramento and San Francisco. And we had that same situation when KNTV was changing owners from Granite to NBC and we were amazed that we had two NBC affiliates claiming Channel 3. Note KCRA 3 Sacramento is the Hearst owned NBC affiliate that happens to cover Solano County.
I haven't heard that term used here, but Boston is under 40 miles from Providence. I-95 and train service connect both, so there are many commuters in between, plus many, many office parks. There is a big overlap between the TV markets, and in the "old days" of mainly OTA analog TV viewing, it was very common for viewers to watch stations from either market.
Bristol County is not in-between but is east of RI, west of Plymouth county. It is considered part of the Providence market, but viewers there receive a couple of the Boston stations under the significantly-viewed exception. Many, probably most, viewers would rather receive the Boston stations which cover Mass. news more thoroughly. In the opposite direction, WJAR is carried on cable in the southern part of the Boston market, as close as 5 miles to the city limits.
Split counties tend to mean 1 county split in two media markets that's been gerrymandered by Nielsen. Like Solano-W its TV and Radio market is designated for San Francisco. Solano-E is the media market designated for Sacramento.
Note Fairfield and Suisun City are approximately 45 miles away from both Sacramento and San Francisco its half way between these cities and is connected by I-80. But I'm amazed that NBC has done the same stuff too to parts of New England that happens to get WBTS and WJAR.
Wait until the Winter Olympics start. NBC 10 Boston's ratings might change.
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