Channel 6 rumors

[jfelbab]

Got good news today.  6.1 OTA has been a problem for me.  I get around 60-65 signal peaks on my HR10-250 but lots of drop outs. I have a CM 2048 antenna but I guess there is just too much terrain in the way.  I filed for a waiver with DTV and it finally came through today.  Too bad I missed a lot of the NASCAR Cup races while I waited.  At least I'll be getting the Packer games in HD this year. Woo-hoo!!! Go Pack.

[russellj]

The Packer games come from the local channel 6 station in Milwaukee. If you got a waiver through DTV you will be getting the National feed and will only see the packers in HD if they are the nationally broadcated game. Everyone with DTV HD in the Milwaukee viewing area has had the National Fox feed for quite a while. I still need basic cable and a HD box so that I can watch all the Packer games in HD on Channel 6.

[Nels Harvey]

The Packer games come from the local channel 6 station in Milwaukee. If you got a waiver through DTV you will be getting the National feed and will only see the packers in HD if they are the nationally broadcated game. Everyone in the Milwaukee viewing area has had the National Fox feed for quite a while. I still need basic cable and a HD box so that I can watch all the Packer games in HD on Channel 6.

I hope you don't like to watch the Packers video, and listen to the radio broadcast.  The combined latency of the satellite delays and the digital decoding combine to have the pass thrown, intercepted, and run back for a touchdown before you see the quarterback cock his arm on HDTV!  I really can't stand the banal, pointless chattering of the TV announcers.  This forced me to watch SD on Ch. 6, or wherever, and listen to Wayne Larrivie on the radio last year.  

Nels....

[russellj]

I don't like any of the announcers, radio or tv. I figgure I know enough about football know whats going on myself so I usually don't pay much attention to what any of them have to say.

[jfelbab]

The Packer games come from the local channel 6 station in Milwaukee. If you got a waiver through DTV you will be getting the National feed and will only see the packers in HD if they are the nationally broadcated game. Everyone with DTV HD in the Milwaukee viewing area has had the National Fox feed for quite a while. I still need basic cable and a HD box so that I can watch all the Packer games in HD on Channel 6.

Rats, You really burst my bubble.

[Joseph S]

Any news? It's past the 7/1/05 deadline for full power requirement by FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC in Top 100.

Their 5/20/2005 request for yet another extension was dismissed by the FCC.
http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_sear.htm

[SRW1000]

Their 5/20/2005 request for yet another extension was dismissed by the FCC.
http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_sear.htm

Very interesting reading Joseph.  To me, it reads like the WITI(or FOX) people weren't treating the whole antenna upgrade situation as seriously as they should have.  Perhaps part of this was due to the seemingly simple process of getting extensions from the FCC over the past two to three years.

It would be interesting to compare the steps in the application with the times shown on the receipts (there aren't any dates given on the application after 2002).

As far as not meeting the deadline, I'm not sure what the penalty is, if any.  I thought I read something on the AVS forum about a station forfeiting some rights to future coverage increases, but I'm not sure if that's right.

It'll be interesting to see what happens.

Scott

[borghe]

well, their request states that they "are expecting" to be at full power by late august to early september. of course this extension was denied and thus they are currently in FCC violation by not being at full power.

So the question is what steps do we take now? Are there any steps?

[Joseph S]

Yeah, they're expecting...

It's great to see the documentation, because it just goes to show how little they actually did to meet the original deadline. Even some of the stuff is laughable considering the jokes. They have receipts for not 9 volt, but rather AAA and AA batteries from Radio Shack in the documentation.

Exhibit 1
Description: REASON FOR EXTENSION
...

THE SHOOLBRED STUDY RECOMMENDED CERTAIN REMEDIAL WORK TO STRENGTHEN APPLICANT'S TOWER. A THIRD-PARTY CONTRACTOR, NATIONWIDE TOWER, INC. ('NATIONWIDE'), WAS RETAINED TO COMPLETE THIS WORK, PURSUANT TO PLANS DRAWN UP BY SCHOOLBRED. THIS WORK PROCEEDED SLOWLY, DUE IN PART TO THE FACT THAT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO PROCEED DURING WISCONSIN'S LONG WINTER MONTHS AND IN PART TO NATIONWIDE'S INADEQUATE PERFORMANCE. THE WORK INCLUDED ADDING A LOW-POWER DTV ANTENNA TO WITI'S STUDIO ANTENNA TOWER, ENABLING WITI-DT TO MEET ITS MAY 1, 2002 DTV CONSTRUCTION DEADLINE WITH SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY TO OPERATE AT LOW POWER.

This section is classic. We all know it is a flat out lie that they met 5/1/02 deadline yet they claim to have done so on a legal documet? When they finally got something up in May, nobody outside of the parking lot could get anything. The year before that was cold and snowy. That winter was nothing and CBS didn't seem to have a problem that spring either. They were up months ahead of schedule.

[Gilbert]

well, their request states that they "are expecting" to be at full power by late august to early september. of course this extension was denied and thus they are currently in FCC violation by not being at full power.

So the question is what steps do we take now? Are there any steps?

They aren't in violation of anything. No station is that didn't go to full power.
BUT...legally, they are now supposed to remain at their STA power forever,
until after analog shutdown. However, at that point they would not be protected by stations wanting high power that did go high power surrounding them. For many markets, this is a moot point. If you're in Madison or any market in Iowa, you know more than likely no one will interfere with you significantly. Didn't make the deadline? Aw shucks, I'm at 50 kw until analog shutdown, then I can crank to 1 mil. If you don't care about a good digital picture, you can do this. I wonder if ABC's WOI in Des Moines IA is doing this. No, someone just said they'll be ready in
"early August". We'll see what the FCC has to say about that...

That said, please don't blame the engineers on this one. They darn well knew about it and I bet some were all but on their hands and knees to get the equipment early. Management makes the final call on what to buy when on the upgrades like this and engineers aren't magicians. And that management DTV purchasing decision may come straight from the top, not at station level.

You think this is bad? Wait until July 1, 2006, when all the small market stations run on very tight budgets have to power up. I more than bet a few more stations will be turning in their licenses, both analog AND digital.  :eek:

Gilbert

[borghe]

well, reading the FCC info, this seems to be the case. but here in milwaukee, this sucks, specifically because of the fact that 33 and 34 are competing. So if 33 is now not able to go beyond the STA power they are at, basically most people in Milwaukee still won't be able to get six, for good now.... is this the case?

if so, any slack I may have ever given WITI in the past is out the window. they knew about this and now because they dragged their feet (it was everyone else's fault but our own) many may not get them OTA.

 

[bradsmainsite]

Its to bad for the people south of my area for the fustrations fox 6 has put you
through, but I will tell you what I have been doing up here in the sheboygan county and surrounding areas for quite some time.                                           Its called fox 11 out of green bay and its having an impact, so I hope the big  guy at ch 6 reads this because digital people around here are not watching you anymore and if you drag your feet to long they will never come back!  :mad:

I wonder what your sponsers would say to you knowing that your losing the northern part of your audience to fox 11.  If you don't believe me why don't
you ask me for my customer list (that is continuing to grow) of all the people
that do not watch you anymore up here! :eek:

Good Luck Fox 6 getting these people back because people up her once they
are used to something just do not change!

[Joseph S]

This should get interesting. Wonder how many of the Fox O&O are now in this position where they could be blown out of the water by ABC and non O&O Fox affiliate competitors? Shift the antenna a little here, fine tune the power, ...

They aren't covering what they're supposed to cover because of the heart shaped pattern and now they're stuck at low power? Why should they get to waste our airwaves for free when somebody else could do a better job for $$$?

[Gilbert]

This should get interesting. Wonder how many of the Fox O&O are now in this position where they could be blown out of the water by ABC and non O&O Fox affiliate competitors? Shift the antenna a little here, fine tune the power, ...

They aren't covering what they're supposed to cover because of the heart shaped pattern and now they're stuck at low power? Why should they get to waste our airwaves for free when somebody else could do a better job for $$$?

Interesting that you could get FOX-DT 11 from Madison a good 70 miles
out, so the western areas might pick that up. And WFLD-DT 31 Chicago comes in
with an FCC grade 'A' signal in much of Kenosha county with their 690 kw
from Sears Tower.

Again, the station engineers are not to blame, and maybe not even local
management, I don't know. All I know is...we (HD viewers) are in the extreme minority, the DT signal makes them no money, and the management apparently
isn't afraid of the FCC fines they could face if they go higher power now.

My guess: the FCC just gives a slap on the wrist to late power-uppers,
but that is nothing more than pure speculation.

Gilbert

[foxeng]

They aren't in violation of anything. No station is that didn't go to full power.
BUT...legally, they are now supposed to remain at their STA power forever,
until after analog shutdown.

WITI DID file for an extension and it is pending action currently. The FCC website is incorrect.