The mystery of NBC 'occasional'

[Xizer]

I have always wondered what the purpose of these channels is.

Why does NBC need five full bitrate "occasional feed" channels up 24/7? They put all kinds of random stuff on there. AFAIK they are the only one of the networks that does this.

I figured maybe it was for Canada at first, but nope, they put bugs and full commercials on the programs on those occasional channels too, just like East/Central/Mountain/West.

Seems like a waste of transponder space, but hey, I ain't complaining!

 

[turbosat]

LOL Maybe that's the one dishnetwork uses for their customers!

 

[primestar31]

N = Nothing
B = But
C = Crap! ... and they have SO MUCH of it, they need all those to put it all out there! lol

 

[Xizer]

LOL Maybe that's the one dishnetwork uses for their customers!

The last time I checked Dish Network wasn't delivering Blu-ray quality visuals.

N = Nothing
B = But
C = Crap! ... and they have SO MUCH of it, they need all those to put it all out there! lol

Was kind of hoping for a serious answer to this one. NBC does have better programming than most of the garbage that remains unencrypted these days. I'd say NHK World and PBS are the only 24/7 networks ITC which are better. All the good 24/7 stuff is encrypted.

NBC certainly does have the highest quality feed of any of the 24/7 networks though; they deserve some praise for that.

 

[rapidawn]

The last time I checked Dish Network wasn't delivering Blu-ray quality visuals.



Was kind of hoping for a serious answer to this one. NBC does have better programming than most of the garbage that remains unencrypted these days. I'd say NHK World and PBS are the only 24/7 networks ITC which are better. All the good 24/7 stuff is encrypted.

NBC certainly does have the highest quality feed of any of the 24/7 networks though; they deserve some praise for that.

I've seen the following on the Occasional channels:
NBC/Telemundo promos for affiliates
Primetime programming for visually impaired(?) airing ~6pm ET on #17
Soaps airing in the wee hours

I remember when NBC were still 4:2:2 SD on 103w they used to air show EPKs on a Sunday AM. I don't know if they still air the EPKs using these HD channels.

 

[turbosat]

Sorry, couldn't resist! I've been listening to my dish-network-paying customer/friends who have been without their nbc station for a month or more due to contract bickering. Just saw last night it appears they finally settled, and they should all have their ota channel back. Truly I have no idea what might happen on those channels since I have never seen anything on them. And haven't been curious enough to sit on one long enough to see. They do have great video quality on those 103 channels though-if they'd show a few hockey games on 'em I'd be there!

 

[Panavision]

During the Olympics, they had the occasionals playing the closing ceremonies. A new one would restart every half hour.

 

[Kraven]

I dont remember the last time NBC had decent Olympic coverage. IIRC, they show everything on tape delay to max out their raitings whereas the entire planet sees the event live 14 hours earlier.

 

[northgeorgia]

The sports channels on 97W and the feeds on 93W through Azteca were providing great live coverage during the games. I ended up watching those more than the NBC feeds.

 

[Xizer]

I just watched the various BBC HD channels. They had tons of them for all the live events.