Has the CW & PBS question ever been answered?

chicagofilms

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jun 15, 2004
329
0
CW is too short to do a search in the forums, so I'm asking here. Sorry if it's been discussed but I missed it if it was.

Will Dish be adding the local HD versions of CW and PBS? I'm in Chicago and still use rabbit ears so I can get Smallville & Supernatural off WGNHD. I'd love to finally be able to dump them and get everything off sat.
 
CW is too short to do a search in the forums, so I'm asking here. Sorry if it's been discussed but I missed it if it was.

Will Dish be adding the local HD versions of CW and PBS? I'm in Chicago and still use rabbit ears so I can get Smallville & Supernatural off WGNHD. I'd love to finally be able to dump them and get everything off sat.
You are better off OTA to begin with.
 
Philadelphia locals have the CW and PBS. If not, you could always get the national versions of them. The CW national version, you would be getting eastern and western time zones.
 
garys is right they aren't available in HD. Ever is a long time - I would bet they will be at some point, but who knows when that is.
 
I've been led to understand there is an issue with PBS requiring Dish to carry all the subchannels also if they want to carry the HD feed.
 
I'm too far out to get my locals without putting up a huge antenna, so hopefully we get CW and PBS a couple years down the road. I'm not holding my breath for it to be any sooner than that.
 
I just wish the superstation package would be available in HD, as our local CW is the only channel not in HD and only recently became a subchannel on their sister station because they didn't have a digital channel assignment. Really not even sure if they have one yet.
 
When Dish had to carry all of the local stations because of "Must Carry" the PQ dropped like a rock. I for one hope that it is a long time before Dish puts those CW, MyNet, & PBS on their birds.

I have a OTA and it works just fine for the few times those channels have something I want to watch.
 
Nobody has been able to answer whether HD superstations are even a possibility. The original superstations are a grandfathered provision, and HD versions would only be legal if the courts decided that the hD versions were an extension of the existing programming and NOT a new set of signals. I would be willing to bet that superstation HD, if it happens at all will not happen until analog cutoff.

That brings Cyclones point about must carry. At analog cutoff, I expect that must carry will apply to all digital stations in a market. Old timer will recall that DISH only carried the big 4 in a market initially, even in SD. They then tried to put the must carry stations on the wings. It took court orders to get everything on the main sat.

I see a couple of questions here for the cutoff date. Will must-carry extend to digital after cutoff, and if so, is downrez allowed? If it is, I expect DISH to downrez all the pesky must carry stations to 480p. If they are not allowed to do that, we are looking at a BIG bandwidth hit in another 16 months.
 
Will must-carry extend to digital after cutoff, and if so, is downrez allowed? If it is, I expect DISH to downrez all the pesky must carry stations to 480p. If they are not allowed to do that, we are looking at a BIG bandwidth hit in another 16 months.

I'm sure most of those pesky must carries will not be broadcasting in HD for a long long time if ever. What may chew up bandwidth after going all digital is if the must carry rule carries over to all the sub-channels for a station. And if so, what about leased sub-channels. Say it is determined that sub-channels must also be carried, what if station A is a must carry, but leases several of it's channels to another broadcaster, would those sub-channels then be required to be carried?
 
I'm sure most of those pesky must carries will not be broadcasting in HD for a long long time if ever. What may chew up bandwidth after going all digital is if the must carry rule carries over to all the sub-channels for a station. And if so, what about leased sub-channels. Say it is determined that sub-channels must also be carried, what if station A is a must carry, but leases several of it's channels to another broadcaster, would those sub-channels then be required to be carried?

Good point, although I do see some of the Spanish and Religious affiliates going HD when their respective networks do. We also have one PBS affiliate on must carry in Denver.
 
I am in the middle of Missouri, good reception from CBS and NBC locals and they broadcast in HD. The ABC and Fox are low power, ABC is broadcast in HD and I cna get it with an antenna in the attic, but fox is a sub channel as well as the CW, so they never will be in HD in the near future.

So, I moved to KC, get CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX in HD via satellite. I am still out of luck for the CW. I really want Smallville in HD.
 
I am in the middle of Missouri, good reception from CBS and NBC locals and they broadcast in HD. The ABC and Fox are low power, ABC is broadcast in HD and I cna get it with an antenna in the attic, but fox is a sub channel as well as the CW, so they never will be in HD in the near future.

So, I moved to KC, get CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX in HD via satellite. I am still out of luck for the CW. I really want Smallville in HD.

Hopefully, your local stations will change, haven't heard anything concrete as to if/when Dish would add CW in HD for either the local markets or the superstations package.
 
We have no CW affiliate where I live, and yet Dish insists we don't qualify for the CW national channels. I'm having to pay $5.99 a month for the superstations to get it.
 
Thanks for the info. I'll probably just stick with the full package for now. I knew about the non-HD aspect, but at least I am able to watch CW programming again.
 
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts