I know there has to be a good reason, but how come Dish won't carry the PBS stations in available HD?
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How Come Dish won't carry PBS- HD?
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The PBS network won't provide a national HD feed and PBS is handled differently legally than the commercial stations so Dish can provide an SD local PBS with HD commercial stations. I'm sure if Dish had more capacity and agreements from the locals they would have the local PBS stations in HD.
I am not sure I understand the difference between carrying a local Fox Station in HD and a local PBS station in HD.
funding is different
A large percent of the funding for local PBS stations is completely local. It's not run the same as the Big 4 nets. It's hard to explain how it's different. One thing is a large amount of the stations are run by schools so E* would need to deal w/ both the admin of the school & a budget office, then the station itself.
A large percent of the funding for local PBS stations is completely local. It's not run the same as the Big 4 nets. It's hard to explain how it's different. One thing is a large amount of the stations are run by schools so E* would need to deal w/ both the admin of the school & a budget office, then the station itself.
Then how is D* and the local cable companies able to deliver PBS in HD? They most certainly would have the same hassles but succeed in having PBS in HD.
Also why no HD of the local CW station? I'm in the Philly DMA.
Ron
Local cable
As far as local cable the key word there is local (inder different rules than sat). I don't know on D*. I've never lived in a DMA that D* carried PBS either. I'm not sure if it's universal. I've lived in DMA that D* didn't carry any of the stations, 1 that E* didn't, and areas that each carried some but not all. In fact the DMA where I live now D* doesn't carry any locals (SD or HD).
As far as local cable the key word there is local (inder different rules than sat). I don't know on D*. I've never lived in a DMA that D* carried PBS either. I'm not sure if it's universal. I've lived in DMA that D* didn't carry any of the stations, 1 that E* didn't, and areas that each carried some but not all. In fact the DMA where I live now D* doesn't carry any locals (SD or HD).
They simply don't have the room right now - it has nothing whatsoever with "being handled differently than the commercial networks" (whatever THAT means 
) If they want to carry PBS-HD, they MUST carry the local version(s) just like other locals, & cannot simply just carry a "national PBS-HD feed".
BTW, D* does indeed carry local PBS-HD's in many DMA's - in my DMA (which is about #82) they carry TWO of our 3 local PBS's in HD already...
) If they want to carry PBS-HD, they MUST carry the local version(s) just like other locals, & cannot simply just carry a "national PBS-HD feed".BTW, D* does indeed carry local PBS-HD's in many DMA's - in my DMA (which is about #82) they carry TWO of our 3 local PBS's in HD already...
PBS transition to HD involved creation of 4 channels in their alotted digital spectrum. Instead of the standard allocation of one HD (x.1) and one SD (x.2) carrying the same conent, PBS chose to add local content SD (x.3) plus Spanish SD (x.4). This mash up changes by location, but all have four x.x channels.
PBS would not agree to Dishnet carrying just two channels - SD and HD. PBS demanded Dish carry all four channels. Dish did not have the resources available to carry all four, so PBS said, no HD for you.
PBS was the real loser and in a later contract allowed DirecTV to carry just the two channels carrying the same content. As PBS renegotiates Dish contracts, Dish has been and will be granted the HD and SD only carry rights.
PBS would not agree to Dishnet carrying just two channels - SD and HD. PBS demanded Dish carry all four channels. Dish did not have the resources available to carry all four, so PBS said, no HD for you.
PBS was the real loser and in a later contract allowed DirecTV to carry just the two channels carrying the same content. As PBS renegotiates Dish contracts, Dish has been and will be granted the HD and SD only carry rights.
Cool
It's been a few yrs since I worked for a PBS station so didn't know the more recent details. Glad someone does.
It's been a few yrs since I worked for a PBS station so didn't know the more recent details. Glad someone does.
D* does not offer a national PBS in HD. They get exactly what Dish offers and for the same reason. Locals don't exist in all markets yet so they do not offer PBS in HD to everyone.
Keep in mind, that 4 channels in one frequency slot means no HD. You can call it HD, but it ain't.
PBS in OKC has several OTA subchannels, but the Cox Cable HD feed comes directly by fiber from OETA, so the PQ is pristine. I'm sure they could do the same for other providers (for $), but the OTA folks are SOL. I remember the days when the OETA OTA HD channel was the national PBS feed, with no subchannels. That was wonderful.
they have NJN, WNET,WLIW and some Channel in New York (Plus channel 25 in New York). Thats 4 HD signals or 16 SD signals depending on the time of Day
Again, NOT true everywhere; 2 of our PBS's digitals only have 3 x.x, & the other ONLY has 2 x.x. NONE of ours carry an SD version, nor a Spanish version. And for that matter, except for St. Louis, MO, none of our surrounding PBS digitals do, either...
Where exactly are you getting your info from???
See the mix here
See this is a lot of the problem. Since PBS isn't run the same as the big 4 then it is much more complicated than dealing with those. Where I live now PBS runs 1HD channel and no subs at the moment. The station still has markers set to run a 2nd SD channel & maybe a marker (never used) for a data channel. Where I lived 6 months ago they were only running 1 ch. Where I lived about 4 yrs ago they ran 1 HD & 1 SD. So it' isn't quite as simple as dealing with most national networks.
See this is a lot of the problem. Since PBS isn't run the same as the big 4 then it is much more complicated than dealing with those. Where I live now PBS runs 1HD channel and no subs at the moment. The station still has markers set to run a 2nd SD channel & maybe a marker (never used) for a data channel. Where I lived 6 months ago they were only running 1 ch. Where I lived about 4 yrs ago they ran 1 HD & 1 SD. So it' isn't quite as simple as dealing with most national networks.
The same is true of affiliates and O&Os for the commercial networks. DISH negotiates with individual stations and/or ownership groups not the networks and the number of subchannels offered can vary widely.
