Hi! I'm new in this forum and I would really like to know if the new 24/7 PBS Kids channel will come to my area. I live near Atlantic City in NJ and I let my kids watch WHYY for the PBS Kids daytime block. I've tried finding some information to see if WHYY will carry the channel in my area, but so far no luck. Does anyone here know if PBS Kids channel will launch in my area on January 16th? If so, what channel number will it be on both Comcast and over-the-air.
Welcome to SatelliteGuys!! I moved your thread to the OTA forum as you will get better results here for OTA stuff.
There are three PBS member stations serving the Philadelphia market. WHYY serves Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley, primarily. WLVT Allentown serves the northern tier, primarily Lehigh Valley, and the slew of "NJTV" branded stations serve the state of New Jersey. If any of these stations agree to carry PBS Kids, we'll have an affiliate in our market that can be distributed across area cable systems. Here's the way I see it. The least likely of the stations to carry the network is "NJTV" since their stations cross markets. They have also yet to carry any other secondary public television network. You could argue that there'd likely be a better chance that it would be picked up by WLVT. In several ways, the pickup makes sense. It could replace the outgoing V-Me network. It could also be placed on the blank "39-2." That all doesn't matter if Lehigh Valley Public Telecommunications says "no thank you" anyway. As for WHYY, there's plenty of room to fit the new network. In other words, there's plenty of bandwidth for a "12-4." I doubt they'd want to replace their local outlet, branded "Y2" for PBS Kids, and the PBS World network isn't going anywhere. It's not exactly a good sign that many public television station/group owners are heavily promoting the net, and it's debut. They've been doing so since the middle of December. Since we're not hearing a peep from WLVT or WHYY, it's most likely that the market won't be able to watch PBS Kids on January 16th. At this point, if either are deciding to carry the net, it won't be able to make it for the 16th. The only nearby market that definitively signed-on for PBS Kids is WVIA Scranton. It looks like I'll have to adjust to make sure they come in well on the 16th. Unfortunately, it looks like you may be out of luck for the debut.
Man, this is pretty ridiculous. If WHYY has enough bandwidth for a new PBS Kids channel, why can't they launch it on Jan. 16 already? What's the long wait for? My kids would really love to see "Sesame Street" right before their bedtime. It'll be a darn shame if WHYY or WLVT won't launch PBS Kids on time.
One thing I would point out is that there are some number of stations which are not carrying PBS Kids at launch. For example, KUED in Salt Lake City has announced that it will launch PBS Kids in March. (My guess is that is either the date their V-Me contract ends, or the date V-Me is pulling its last PBS affiliate stations.) It's possible that PBS Kids will come later due to existing agreements, equipment delays, or other such issues. I'm trying to get my hands on a full affiliate list but I don't think I'll be getting one for at least another week, at the earliest, which will be after launch. - Trip
It doesn't matter that there's enough bandwidth. The network isn't owned by WHYY Inc. or Lehigh Valley Public Telecommunications. Also, WHYY and WLVT aren't owned by PBS. This isn't a case of a Tribune or Sinclair launching a network that is guaranteed to air on their owned-stations. PBS has to negotiate carriage with station or station group owners in each market. If WHYY and WLVT decline, there's no carriage in this market. I'm confident one will carry it and some point or another, but just because we have two PBS member stations wholly serving the Philadelphia market. Public stations, especially PBS member stations don't exactly have a lot of secondary options, so I'm surprised one didn't jump on the opportunity. This network is a great way to expand the local brand as promoting a great source of education for young kids. However, we're not guaranteed an affiliate, as would be the case of a commercial network launched by a station group owner who owns a station in this market. Simply put, if WHYY and WLVT decline, we're not going to be able to watch PBS Kids. If they accept, we'll see it soon enough.
Why is PBS Kids Channel not on cable/satellite like Dish, Directv etc like all the other kids channels. How is Qubo allowed on both OTA and satellite/cable?
A broadcast channel can be on cable and satellite nationally as long as the programs are cleared for both. If any of the programs are sold to the local channels as "exclusives" that network cannot be distributed nationally (at least not with that program on the schedule). This is why ION, GetTV and other commercial broadcast are distributed on satellite and cable nationally.
The reason some secondary networks don't distribute nationally is because advertising time is sold, in part, by the affiliates, while also receiving a revenue share from the network owner for running, in part, the network ads. Others, such as getTV, BUZZR, and (I think) Comet affiliate with a rev share, only. That's why getTV was able to negotiate with DISH, and it's why Comet could launch an online stream of their network feed. NewsMax TV and Rev'n also stream their network feeds. Of course all of the content from BUZZR, Comet, and NewsMax is in-house or owned by the parent company of the network, also allowing them to do so. This is the reason why PBS can stream the PBS Kids network online. Now, PBS Kids doesn't have the issue of shared ad time, being a non-commercial network, but allowing member stations to accept donations for programs from PBS Kids could be part of the reason PBS would choose not to distribute the network feed nationally. I do believe, however, that PBS will put forth an effort to launch PBS Kids nationally, just not right away.
So you think that PBS may launch PBS Kids nationally on cable/satellite in the future? Why do you think this?
Mediacom gets Heroes and Icons national feed but like Comcast,CCI,Sprectrum doesn't but if did would have national feed of it in KC area other then Mediacom/AT@T U-Verse. Also PBS doesn't have on it's main site where to watch for it's stations but KCPT PBS Kids will be on Comcast/Google Fiber/Sprectrumkc so far on Monday. KOZK is thinking about adding World.
If WHYY or WLVT won't launch PBS Kids, is it still possible that the network will appear on Comcast or other cable/satellite providers?
Thanks. I googled again and found the announcement. The current 33.4, PBS World, will be removed and merged w/ PBS Plus located on 33.2 .
Trip, KCPT of the Kansas City MO/KS DMA has lit up a test card for KCPT-4, announcing PBS Kids launch on 1/16. I have screenshots here: http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/new-pbs-kids-channel.366584/
KTTV, Lubbock Texas now has PBS Kids on 5-3. Well, they're running a promo loop for PBS-Kids - regular programming starts 1/16/2017. My TiVo picked it up in a scan.