Heroes & Icon Channel Or Not?

[Blackloz]

Here in N.D. We have Heroes & Icons channel but lately it seems to be pre-empted more and more with local garbage. I'm all about local support but why don't they have their own separate channel to air local programs. Why continue to pre-empt a separate channel. I don't know how H&I put up with this.

 

[ejb1980]

I have Antenna TV has a primary local (WBIN in the Boston DMA) and they do the same thing. We don't get good stuff like sports, we just get paid programming and the same Family Guy re-airs that you can see on other channels - so you're lucky in that sense.

 

[dishrich]

Why continue to pre-empt a separate channel. I don't know how H&I put up with this.

Easy...because these subchannels - particularly 2nd tier ones like H&I - are happy to get ANY carriage on OTA stations in any/all DMA's, part-time or NOT. If you watch MeTV, when they run promo's, they even now say "on most MeTV stations"...due to some affiliates only being able to provide part-time carriage. And for the station, having the subchannel network affiliation allows for easy "filler material" when they don't run the local stuff.

And as the OTA repak gets into full swing & some stations sign off, some of these subchannels may NOT even be able to find enough carriage to continue staying on the air...unless they decide to try & get carried on cable &/or satellite directly.

The funny thing is, according to Wiki, this station ALSO carries a 2nd subchannel for high school sports; I'm guessing that since satellite providers obviously do NOT carry it, they are putting at least some of them on the primary channel for that reason. (don't shoot me if wiki is incorrect...)

KNDB - Wikipedia