What's wrong with WMVS (PBS Channel 10-1) OTA Broadcast ?

[stash64]

Ever since Channel 10-1 finished with their auction broadcasting, a month or so back, they are no longer broadcasting a prime time line-up OTA.  None of their broadcasts match what is listed in the TV guide for prime time.  All you see now on 10-1 during prime time are shows that would normally run during the daytime and even a simultaneous repeat of the childrens broadcast that normally plays on 10-4.

Does anyone know what is going on with PBS Channel 10-1 and their OTA broadcast  I am really starting to miss some of the science and nature shows they would normally broadcast between 7 to 10 pm.  Are they having financial problems ?

[Snard]

I don't know about their OTA HD signal, but on Wednesday evening, I watched the Time-Warner HD feed (channel 510), and it was a show about Alaska (a few times during the show, I flipped back to the "old" channel 10, for comparison; it was the same program but in low definition. What a difference!) I think this program was on from 9-10pm.

[Pat]

Unless they've changed their ways recently, they nearly always broadcast on 10-1 a 3-hour delay of channel 10, on 10-2 a 3-hour delay of channel 36, on 10-3 the PBS-You channel, on 10-4 the PBS-Kids channel, and on 10--5 music with some text.  On rare occasions, and unpredictably until recently, they'll show some HD on 10-1 and leave the others blank.

As a result, I almost never try to watch PBS on the HDTV -- there's very seldom anything on that I'm interested in at the times I'm watching.  On the other hand, if they would maintain a reasonable schedule, I'm sure I would watch PBS more than any other network.  I almost never get to see some of my favorites -- Nova, Frontline, Nature, Hometime, This Old House, on the good TV!

Its very annoying, and there has been a lot of grumbling about it here over the lifetime of the site.

[wxndave]

To answer your question. MPTV broadcasts a 3hour delay of 10& 36.  The other sub cahnnels are PBS kids and PBS you and a classical music audio station.  In July they plan on putting channel 35 on the air.  This channel will run HD programming all the time.  They will mainly broadcast the PBS loop and local produced programs.  They have been switching from a multticast format to HD on a schedule that is posted at their website http://www.mptv.org/list_mnu/updates/update_txt/wmvs_hd.html

I have friends that work there, and I know that they are in the middle of installing the new switching equipment and the transmitter for the Channel 35.  They also tell me that they have been battleing some major software problems with the equipment.

Here is the auction statment from their website.

Dave

AUCTION NOTE: 5/2-5/10/03

(Posted 5/5/03)

FYI:

Time Warner Digital Cable Channel 550
is airing the auction
as it is happening, LIVE (until midnight or so...).

Usually, it would be running the WMVS schedule
at a 3-hr. delay, but, during the auction,
we can't broadcast on a delay, because people could then
be bidding on boards that were previously closed.

After the auction is done for the day,
exactly what is on Ch. 10, WMVS, is broadcast for 3 hrs.,
until they can get back to the 3-hr. delay
(which then simply re-runs that first 3 hrs. of programming,
and then continues with the regular 3-hour delay
until the Auction begins again the next day).
To be safe, this timeframe would typically cover
the hours of 1-4am.

When the Auction begins again, later the same day, at 1pm,
it goes back to broadcasting the Auction LIVE.
This scheduling pattern continues through the close of the Auction,
which is expected to be sometime in the early morning hours of Sunday, May 11.

Then, after the Auction closes (usually about 1am),
3 hours later, we again revert to the normal 3-hr. delay of WMVS.

The above also applies to the WMVS-DT 10-1 air broadcast signal,
except when our previously-published High Definition
programming pre-empts all 5 multicast programs.

***

Our apologies for the after-the-fact notification.

Please be especially careful with the schedules
if you are working on Preview On-Screen-type schedules,
both to get it into the logs now, and to go back to
the regular 3-hr. delay on May 11.

Thank you very much.
Please call me at 414 297-7515 if you have questions.

[stash64]

Thanks Everyone,

This is wonderful information.  I knew about Channel 36 running on a delayed schedule but did not realize the same was being done with the primary channel 10.  I too would be watching a lot more of PBS if the programs were not delayed.