Subs are proliferating at an enormous rate

Well, I contacted WYOU 22/WBRE 28 (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton PA) yesterday about whether they planned to add any subchannels (since they have none) and I received this reply:

"Thank you for asking about why we do not have subchannels on WBRE/WYOU;

There are three reasons.
1) there is currently no financial incentive to add commercial inventory to this market.
2) we choose to provide the highest possible quality HD broadcast and adding sub channels does have an impact on quality of signal.
3) our redistribution agreements (cable and satellite) do not provide for additional channel distribution, so any subchannel would be limited to over the air viewers only." :(
 
actual there is a 4th...which is actually #1 in most folks books

We are Nexstar and we hate subchannels. Most of our stations do not have subchannels and the ones who do we probably have an agreement via the owner of the station we bought out
 
1) there is currently no financial incentive to add commercial inventory to this market.

sure there is. You can put commercials for your -1 stations on the subchannels. I see commercials for WDIO ABC on METV here in Duluth
2) we choose to provide the highest possible quality HD broadcast and adding sub channels does have an impact on quality of signal.
While I give them that, 1 SD subchannel doesnt make THAT much impact. And just because you have the "full" signal you dont have to use it. Hell my local FOx has no subchannels (they're just cheap) and they dont even use the full bandwidth

3) our redistribution agreements (cable and satellite) do not provide for additional channel distribution, so any subchannel would be limited to over the air viewers only." :(
sure it does for cable. You can ask for the subchannels to be carried. Every subchannel in Minneapolis on a full power station with the exception of Grit & Justice (both new as of January) is carried on Comcast in Minneapolis. That is 11 subchannels carried.
 
Agreed Iceberg. Unhappy with the response I got from them. Statements one and three don't make sense to me so with the exception of statement two that there is some degradation of quality with the addition of sub(s), in my opinion it is not a valid reason not to add at least one. Maybe it's just me but I would rather have more than one choice of channels to watch and have a some degradation in quality than have one channel with perfect quality that is airing something that I am not interested in.
 
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Maybe it's just me but I would rather have more than one choice of channels to watch and have a some degradation in quality than have one channel with perfect quality that is airing something that I am not interested in.

agreed!
Be happy you arent in a "major" market that some stations have decided to use their bandwidth for Mobile TV. The ABC in Minneapolis is the worst. They have one subchannel (H&I formerly LiveWell) but they use almost HALF their bandwidth for mobile TV. So try watching a sporting event on ABC there and it looks worse than the station with 2 subchannels. Crazy part is the ABC in Duluth is owned by same folks (Hubbard), has one subchannel (MeTV) that is given MORE bandwidth than what H&I gets in the cities.....and thew ABC STILL looks much better because they arent using bandwidth for mobile.
 
Here's a question, if the primary was 720 instead of 1080 would there necessarily be any noticeable degradation by adding just one sub?
 
I have nexstar broadcasting in fort Wayne market they took their sweet time on adding a subchannel bounce. They also cut there power back now it breaks up.
 
Here's a question, if the primary was 720 instead of 1080 would there necessarily be any noticeable degradation by adding just one sub?
no.
It all depends on how you use that bandwidth. Stations can allocate X amount of the bandwidth they get on a digital RF station to primary -1 and any subchannels.
As example MeTV in Minneapolis only gets between 1.65 and 3.25 MBps where as the MeTV in Duluth gets 4.65MBps

The NBC in Duluth has My Network as a subchannel. They give it 5.5MBps
The NBC in Minneapolis has two subchannels and the total they get is about the same
 
Well that appears to explain why FOX 29 out of Phila has the worst signal of the 4 major OTA networks.
seems odd as ABC has Live Well in HD and SD and NBC is using mobile there too

Both Fox & NBC use 1.83MBps for mobile (per rabbitears)
Look at Minneapolis ABC (KSTP)... 7.34 Mbps !!!
 
seems odd as ABC has Live Well in HD and SD and NBC is using mobile there too

Both Fox & NBC use 1.83MBps for mobile (per rabbitears)
Look at Minneapolis ABC (KSTP)... 7.34 Mbps !!!

FOX 29 is also replicating on 38.1 and 38.2, whatever that may mean.
 
FOX 29 is also replicating on 38.1 and 38.2, whatever that may mean.
what do you mean?
Fox 29 in Philly is on RF42
There is a RF38 in Hammonton, NJ that remaps to 8. It has MudoFox -1, Sonlife -2, GOD -3 and Hope -4

Or are you referring to a translator station closer to you?
 
FOX 29.1 and 29.2 (Movies!) are replicated on 38.3 and 38.4 (Movies!), (I would have corrected the original post but there's no ability to edit). I have them all scanned in on 4 different tuners. 38 (WTXF-TV) is a translator out of Allentown PA. It went live on December 29th, 2014.
 
FOX 29.1 and 29.2 (Movies!) are replicated on 38.3 and 38.4 (Movies!), (I would have corrected the original post but there's no ability to edit). I have them all scanned in on 4 different tuners. 38 (WTXF-TV) is a translator out of Allentown PA. It went live on December 29th, 2014.
ok NOW it makes sense. Rabbitears doesnt list the Allentown translator as active and the FCC still shows it in Construction Permit state
 

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