RE: NBC Affiliates on Ku-Band (1998)

[JosephHolloway1998]

As NBC had full capacity on Ku-Band (SBS4, GE1 Ku & Satcom K2), with it's only C-Band feed being on Satcom F1, transponder 8 (NBC-E). Which of the NBC affiliates were carried on FTA Ku-Band at the time aside from what's listed here? (though the Ku side of Spacenet 3R consisted of Florida newsfeeds, Sunnysat/NY Net feeds, Lottery drawing feeds, Oregon Ed-Net feeds, Video & Online services etc...)
S3R-13: WRC 4 (NBC - Washington, D.C.)
S3R-13L: KXAS 5 (NBC - Dallas-Ft. Worth)
S3R-13U: WHDH 7 (NBC - Boston (now Independent)) also carried as the "NBC East" feed on Primestar (W7-37) and ExpressVu.
S3R-14: WTVJ 6 (NBC - Miami)
S3R-14L: WMAQ 5 (NBC - Chicago)
S3R-14U: WXIA 11 (NBC - Atlanta)
S3R-15L: KNBC 4 (NBC - Los Angeles) also carried as the PT24 West coast NBC Affiliate on C-Band, DirecTV and Dish Network as "NBC America West"
S3R-15U: WNBC 4 (NBC - New York City) also as the PT24 east coast NBC Affiliate on C-Band, DirecTV and Dish Network as "NBC America Via Satellite" as well the affiliates/broadcast networks on DirecTV Puerto Rico
S3R-15U: KCRA 3 (NBC - Sacramento) via "Kelly Broadcasting" feeds, also carried as the "NBC West" feed on Primestar (W7-38)
S3R-16: KPNX 12 (NBC - Phoenix)
S3R-17L: KRON 4 (NBC - San Francisco)
S3R-17U: WPXI 11 (NBC - Pittsburgh)
S3R-18L: KSL 5 (NBC - Salt Lake City)
A2-328: KHQ 6 (NBC - Spokane) via StarChoice
A2-323: WGRZ 2 (NBC - Buffalo), previously at the spot where WNBC 4 (NBC America) was on StarChoice
KING 5 (NBC - Seattle) NBC-W on ExpressVu (both ExpressVu and StarChoice shared satellite space on the Ku side of Anik E2 (A2), before ExpressVu moved to a DBS-only sat the following year)
WDIV 4 (NBC - Detroit), NBC-C on ExpressVu
This time I'm going to stay on topic as I moved my ABC, WB and UPN topics to separate threads, but I wonder what other NBC affiliates they carried in '98? (though most of the stations listed were on the Echostar 3 and 4 birds which was DBS-only and were limited to Dish Network customers)

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

As there were only three affiliates on the Skypath feed (KNBC Los Angeles, WNBC New York City and WXIA Atlanta), I wonder if they carried affiliate newscasts on the NBC NewsChannel and Skycom feeds? including the other NBC O&Os (KNSD San Diego, WCMH Columbus, WVIT Hartford/New Haven, WJAR Providence, WCAU Philadelphia, WVTM Birmingham) and several others including KPRC Houston, KSEE Fresno, WNCN Raleigh-Durham, WEYI Flint, WNWO Toledo, KNHL Honolulu (Hawaii's News 8), KUSA Denver (which was reserved for C-Band and Dish Network (on the Echo 4 package), WKEF Dayton (now-ABC), WEAU Eau Claire, KSNF Joplin, WMGM Atlantic City, NJ, WHAG Hagerstown, KNAZ Flagstaff, KULR Billings etc... As far as I know KMOL San Antonio was on GSTAR4, transponder 8 as part of the Chris-Craft/UTV newsfeeds, plus stations like WTLV Jacksonville, WXII Greensboro and WTHR Indianapolis had newstrucks for their SNG feeds.

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

At least this mini-chart might show which NBC feeds were on Ku (besides KHQ Spokane and WGRZ Buffalo on the Canadian Anik E2 sat)
B4-2: NBC (Occasional)
B4-3: NBC (Occasional)
B4-4: NBC News Channel
B4-7: NBC (Occasional)
B4-8: NBC (Occasional)
B4-10: NBC (Occasional)
W6-6/C1-8 (C-Band): NBC - East
W6-7: NBC - West
W6-9: NBC - Mountain
W6-15: NBC (Occasional)
W6-17: NBC (Occasional)
W6-19: NBC News Channel
W6-21: NBC (Occasional)
W6-23: NBC (Occasional)
The listing of the feeds were clipped from the Internet Archive (4DTV Channel List Satellite and 4Dtv Channel Listings). During the local news time (5PM-6:30PM) and (11PM-11:30PM before Leno), the occasional feeds would've certainly shown news stories from the NBC News Channel and sports highlights as well. Though Sinclair and Hearst-Argyle both used T5 Ku for their newsfeeds (KSBW Salinas-Monterrey, WLWT Cincinnati, WBAL Baltimore, WPTZ Plattsburgh-Burlington (swap became official on July 2nd that year along with KSBW)/WNNE Hartford, VT, WTWC Tallahassee (formerly owned by Guy Gannett), WICS/WICD Champaign (now ABC), KETK Tyler/Longview).

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

Besides carrying its programming feeds as well as affiliate and news feeds, plus upfront presentations, TCA and affiliate meetings as well as closed circuit promo briefings (hosted by then-VP of On-Air Promotion Rick Ouellette (whose contract expired in March that year) and later Jim Vescera (following his two-year stint as ABC's head of on-air promotions)) not meant for air. Didn't the NBC Ku occasional birds burn off the remaining unaired episodes of cancelled shows? (such as Built to Last (ABC's Dharma & Greg clobbered it in the ratings), Tony Danza (9 unaired), Men Behaving Badly (US adaption of a British sitcom), Union Square (one episode unaired, despite ranking #7 in the 1997-98 Nielsens), Jenny (7 unaired; unless they would move it to Wednesday), Sleepwalkers (third vehicle for the Saturday Thrillogy; only 5 episodes were seen on the West Coast (after its national airing was cancelled after 2) with 2 unaired), Fired Up (5 unaired, but they probably showed them when USA Network reran it), The Naked Truth (7 unaired, they probably showed it when USA Network and later WeTV reran it)), although they were shown internationally outside the US.

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

Here's another clipping on NBC feeds that I found on a satellite chart around here (You could also find some newsfeeds on Satcom K2 back then (although it was an NBC sat))
K2-3: NBC (East)
K2-7: NBC (Pacific)
K2-10: NBC sports/CONUS news feeds (kinda brief for an NBC sat to share space with Conus Communications)
K2-11: NBC sports feeds (NBA, MLB, PGA Tour (also shared w/ CBS), US Open/Wimbledon, Notre Dame Football, USGA)
K2-15: NBC news & sports feeds
K2-19: NBC (Central)
K2-23: NBC news feed
K2-27: NBC news feed
But on 4DTV, Ku-band alternative "KC" could also double as Satcom K2. Well I have an Orbit Magazine Edition from June 1998 coming in soon (I just ordered it off Ebay), hopefully I could find some listings of affiliates on there.

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

My Orbit Magazine edition (June 1998) lists one NBC feed that wasn't on the 4DTV or Orbit Communications site.
W6-3: NBC - East
But sadly I don't see any affiliates listed on there (it just lists "affiliate feeds" for NBC), other than what came in on the news feeds or the NBC News Channel (WFIE Evansville, WYFF Greenville/Asheville, WBRE Wilkes/Barre (abbreviation for the city it serves), WCSH Portland, ME, WNYT Albany, New York, WESH Orlando, KPLC Lake Charles, WWLP Springfield, MA, WTWO Terre Haute, WCBD Charleston, SC, WNDU South Bend etc..) and the SNG feeds (WMC Memphis). SBS4 (as they list inclined, despite it being still in circulation) and Satcom K2 isn't even on the sat chart from the Magazine I chose, Plus MSNBC feeds were on SBS6 as well.

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

NBC also had feeds on GStar 3 as well (KARK Little Rock, KJRH Tulsa, WGAL Harrisburg/Lancaster, WSLS Lynchberg-Roanake, KARE Minneapolis-St. Paul (which was also fed on the C-Band side of Anik E2 as part of the Cancom services), KGET Bakersfield, WSAZ Charleston/Huntington, KTWO Casper, WY (now ABC), KSHB Kansas City, WTMJ Milwaukee, WPTV West Palm Beach etc...), But the sat chart from my Orbit Magazine lists it as one of the sats on inclined alongside SBS4 (though still circulating in orbit at the time) along then defunct SBS2, GStar2 and Anik C3. But since SBS4, Satcom K2 and Galaxy 3R Ku (sat formerly reserved for DirecTV Latin America (which moved to 8I), CBS Newspath and Channel One News used as a backup sat after the Galaxy 4 shutdown in May 1998) isn't on the Magazine that I chose, I'll try Satellite TV Week or 4DTV Magazine (But I'll have to pay attention to the Ebay listings).

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

The Florida newsfeeds were on Spacenet 3R Ku (S8), transponder 24 (WPMI Mobile-Pensacola, WFLA Tampa Bay, WBBH Ft. Myers/Naples, WJHG Panama City, etc...). The same sat as the Oregon Ed-Net, NY Net/Sunnysat and NY State Lotto feeds, the Orbit Magazine also lists occasional video feeds (mainly wildfeeds) there (west beam at transponder 3, State University of New York east beam (mainly NCAA Basketball or Football) at transponder 4 and occasional video at transponder 6)).

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

One thread Denver Trial Feeds also lists an NBC feed on W6-13 mostly for newsfeeds from the NBC Newschannel/Skycom services (KFOR Oklahoma City, KOB Alberqueque, WOWT Omaha, WLBT Jackson, MS (which briefly occupied C-Band on Satcom C4, transponder 12 (later reserved for ZDTV) to feed to cable companies), KGW Portland, KVBC Las Vegas, KYMA Yuma (the call letters is also another abbreviation for the area it serves), WAVY Norfolk/Hampton Roads, WHIZ Zanesville, WPBN 7&4 Traverse City/Cadillac etc...)

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

NBC NewsChannel based in WCNC Charlotte used Wagener video and Compel control, whiles ABC used Leitch, Fox used NTSC and CBS Newspath used NTSC/Videocipher 1B.

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

One video clip I saw online showed an NBC News Channel feed, they not only show news stories from NBC News but they also display news stories from their affiliates as well (WICU Erie, KTSM El Paso, WLBZ Bangor, WKYC Cleveland, WLEX Lexington, WGEM Quincy/Hannibal, WDSU New Orleans, KUAM-TV Guam, KSNW Wichita, KNSD San Diego, KXAN Austin, WIS Columbia, SC, WMTV Madison, WHEC Rochester, NY/KNDO Yakima etc...). Plus, I can also see a teleconference or a news conference, blooper for Access Hollywood and a raw feed.

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

In another video clip, they sometimes display a feed of a newscast from an affiliate particularly WTVJ's (WSMV Nashville, WSTM Syracuse, KCPM Chico/Redding (call letters changed to the current day KNVN effectively on August 10th that year), KTIV Sioux City, WKJG Fort Wayne (call letters-now current day WISE), WLIO Lima, KTVH Helena, WVIR Charlottesville (Dateline 29 News) etc...), as well as an MSNBC feed (Although MSNBC had feeds on SBS6, transponders 3 & 5). Whenever they're not running any news material they generally run a test card ("NBC NEWS CHANNEL" or "SURE SHOT KU UNIT 6").

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

In addition to running a special TVSD feed for the sweeps (KAMR Amarillo, WRCB Chattanooga, WFMJ Youngstown, WOOD Grand Rapids (UPN secondary), WVLA Baton Rouge, WTAP Parkersburg, WKTV Utica, WECT Wilmington etc...), NBC News Channel also ran an overnight news service called "NBC Nightside" which was broadcast from the studios of WCNC-TV Charlotte and ended with its final broadcast on September 20th that year.

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

In addition displaying feeds and running an overnight news service for the network, they (NBC News Channel) sometimes display a raw feed of newscast or a raw newsfeed from the stations (KVOA Tuscon, WDAM Hattiesburg, WILX Lansing, KOMU Columbia-Jefferson City (the only NBC affiliate that was college-owned), WAVE Louisville, KWWL Waterloo/Ceder Rapids, WETM Elmira (whose newscast were being simulcast on WBGH-LP in Binghamton), KMTR Eugene, OR (Oregon's NewsSource Network), KDSK St. Louis, KDLT Sioux Falls, KIEM Eureka, WITN Wilmington/New Bern, KRNV Reno, WBIR Knoxville, WCYB Tri-Cities/Bristol etc...).

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

As stated on my ABC and WB threads, my parents only had cable back then (June 1998) so I could only get whatever affiliate was within my range, KNBC 4 (NBC Los Angeles) which was also carried as the PrimeTime 24 West Coast NBC affiliate on C-Band (Spacenet 4, transponder 6) as "NBC America West" which was also being fed on DirecTV and Dish Network (before they replaced it with the local feed by 1998-99 respectively). My local NBC affiliate would often feed the 11PM late news on SBS4, transponder 8, KNBC sometimes would feed two uplinks of the news, one that the local audience would see and the other coming from the master control switch preset bus, or production. So that you'd get to see the various sources before they were used and setup, the feed on C-Band replaced the local ads (Blue Shield, Empire, California Lottery, car dealership etc...) with the national ones.

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

They would often provide local cut-ins during The Today Show (7AM-9AM) including KTAL Shrevport/Tex-Arkana, KRBC Abilene, WAFF Huntsville (the other NBC affiliate in Huntsville being WOWL-TV until the following year in which it affiliated with UPN became WAFF the sole affiliate), KTVB Boise, KNBN-LP Rapid City/UPN secondary (NewsCenter 1), KVLY Fargo/Grand Forks, KGNS Laredo/UPN secondary, WGBA Green Bay, KFYR Bismarck, KSBY Santa Maria/San Luis Obispo etc...

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

As with its competitors (ABC NewsOne and their Daily Electronic Feed (DEF), Fox NewsEdge, CBS Newspath and CNN Newsource), there are two types of feeds on the NBC News Channel one being the national feed which displays news stories from NBC News and the other being the affiliate feed for news stories from their affiliated (KTUU Anchorage, KCEN Waco, WWBT Richmond, WPSD Paducah, KOAA Colorado Springs, KHAS Hastings, NE, KFDX Wichita Falls (Texoma area), NBC Montana (KECI Missoula/KCFW Kalispell/KTVM Butte/KDBZ-CD Boseman), KTVE Monroe etc...)

 

[Route66Fan]

Were these feeds in the clear?

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

Were these feeds in the clear?

Yes they were in the clear, NBC's was ITC on Ku-band and never scrambled its feeds (unlike some on C-Band) throughout that time. NBC's feeds went digital that year, NBC News Channel was on SBS4 and GE1 Ku (W6).

 

[JosephHolloway1998]

There are several NBC feeds I forgot to include, (although my Orbit Magazine lists it as inclined, as was Satcom K2) two feeds on SBS4.
B4-5: NBC (Occasional) which feeds it's primetime programming 2 hours early (6PM Eastern Time/3PM Pacific Time)
B4-9: NBC (Occasional) which is used as their Advertising & Promotion feed (the West Coast department was led by John Miller & Vince Manze, East Coast was led by Frank Radice), I'm not sure what the rest of SBS4 was being used for? (Primarily Fox Sports Net feeds and sports backhauls (though there are a lot more on SBS6 and T5 Ku)) Although NBC owned the bird.