58 Reception in HD

[Rafiki]

For the last two weeks I have tried to watch the SEC football games. The first quarter was abasolutely clear, but by the second quarter I had lost the signal!  Tonight I was watching JAG.  At 7:00 I had a signal strength of 70.  I lost the signal at 7:45 with a signal strength in the 20's.  At 8:00 when the Guardian began the signal strength was in the 60's and I had a good picture. By 8:15 the signal was in the 20's and in the dark.

What is wrong with 58? it seems they are playing games with us viewers.  This group has praised Jim Hall and 58 for being pioneers in HDTV but some of us cannot see even one whole program in high def.  How about an explanation? Don't us the excuse that it is the troposphere or  the weather.  Jim Hall: why doesn't 58 broadcast with thew power that will allow us viewers to enjoy the whoole program?

[Gregg Lengling]

What you are seeing are the effects of atmospheric bending and absorbtion.  WDJT's not playing games it just that with them only running 10.8kW ERP (about 1000 watt exciter) the signal becomes marginal.  I am in Cedarburg with an amplified antenna up 50 feet and at times the signal drops below my lock threshold.  I can understand their decision not to invest in full power (cost of the amplifier and monthly electrical), but I also would like to see full power from them so the signal would be more stable.

[Rafiki]

If we allow the stations to not give full power how will we convince people to invest in high def? Again we alloe the stations to dictate what we see.  If the stations promote high def they have the responsibility to deliver.  They can't have it both ways. Put up or get off the air!

[borghe]

Chicken, let me introduce you to Egg.

[techguy1975]

 

Originally posted by Rafiki:
If we allow the stations to not give full power how will we convince people to invest in high def?

Maybe its just a lack of content.  People on this forum complain about multi-casting, so thats not an option, once the networks, program producers, etc, can generate something that will just WOW people, and TWC adds the local stations to the channel line up, advertising dollars will start flowing in to justify turning up the power.

If they just crnak up the power without the ad revenue, Ch. 58 would most likely loose money.  If I remember correctly, a full power UHF transmitter costs somewhere around a few thousand dollars a DAY in electrical costs, I could be wrong on that though.  

If you want to foot the bill, I'm sure Jim Hall would be more than happy to talk to you

[ReesR]

Jim Hall shared with me the biggest issue about going high power on digital is the high cost of running their transmitters at high power. He indicated it would be in the range of about $75,000 a year to operate without any additional revenue coming in from digital.

This would then be approximately $6,250 a month.  (75000/12)

IF a commercial costs $100 to air then they would need to air 2.08 more commercials per day to cover the cost.

$6250/30days = $208 daily cost.

$208/$100 = 2.08 commercials at $100/commercial.

Even if their revenue per commercial would be only half ($50) then it would only take 4 commercials a day to cover the cost.  And if they charge $200/commercial then they would only need to air one commercial a day to cover the cost of electricity for the operation of their digital transmitter.

While $75,000/year sounds like alot of money, does anyone really believe that the incremental cost of going high power would be a hardship?

Similiar costs and revenues apply to the other stations locally and I only share this as a basis of putting things in perspective.


Respectfully,

------------------
Rees Roberts
Racine, WI
reesr@wi.net

HDTV Receiver:  Sony KD-34XBR2
Bi-directional Yagi Antenna at 30 feet

[This message has been edited by ReesR (edited 09-18-2002).]

[wxndave]

While $75,000/year sounds like alot of money, does anyone really believe that the incremental cost of going high power would be a hardship?

Rees,

I'm surprised that someone who came from Broadcasting said this.  I would think that you would understand all the costs involved with doing TV.  As I have said before, how can a station charge money for ads on a service they don't even know how many people are watching.  If you had bought time on CBS or NBC would you spend more just to have your spot on a digital channel?  The advertisers don't care about DTV until it becomes the norm.  Plus all the DTV stations in town can't run seperate commercials between SD or DTV.

As for the added cost of running high power.  I don't think anyone on this forum would spend more money than needed.  Stations would have to give up something to cover the costs.  I know maybe they won't cover the Packers on rode games.  Channel 4 only runs a few hours a day because the costs.  
     

[ReesR]

It is because I have experience in broadcast that I share this information.

Obviously it can be done.  WISN will be going high power and full time in October.  A sliding crossing scale can be implemented.  Charge less or free for digital now and less for analog later.  These two curves will cross at some point providing a period of time where, if the broadcaster has vision, could make a business case for two or more revenue streams instead of one during high revenue periods like newscasts while retaining high def programming during prime time etc.

If broadcasters only wish to wait for the consumer to spend their hard earned cash and not provide the technical followup the consumer expects then I would hate to be on the broadcaster side of things as time goes on.  That is NOT a threat it is mere common sense that if more people discover local stations playing games with stalling tactics, low power levels and part time air schedules it will become obvious that something will need to be addressed.  As more and more consumers make that deep pocket investment, broadcasters need to as well.  But one or two more commercials a day isn't that much to ask, is it to pay for the documented reason why they can't aggressively persue high power?

Hopefully the congressional hearings starting on the 25th of September will clear the air (no pun) and provide the foundation we all need for this technology.  Otherwise, do you really want NTSC for another 50 years? I certainly hope not.

[tenth_t2]

Hate to be a pessimist, I'm sorry.  With respect to WISN broadcasting full time/full power in October, seeing is believing.  I hope I'm wrong....

For now, I get my ABC out of Madison.

Greg O.