Possible W35DZ Plans

- Posted May 16th, 2022 at 9:42pm

Thanks to xmguy for this information. He e-mailed someone at WCTE to ask about the future of W35DZ channel 35 in Cookeville. His reply he received I am going to have to paraphrase it just so that there is no wrongdoing in copying and pasting the e-mail. He said in the e-mail that the current owner is going to start broadcasting his programming while allocating a subchannel or two for WCTE's use for whatever programming they want to use it for. In the distant future, they (WCTE) will move the 1.0 programming over to W35DZ channel 35 and make their main signal on channel 22 their 3.0 signal. He said that since the 1.0 programming moving to a low-power station will cut down on their audience, they will not do that until ATSC 3.0 is more readily available. He said these plans are in the early stage, and changes can be made to this plan. He also said that all TN Public TV stations are working on a proposal for the state legislature to get funding to do a study on gaps in coverage throughout TN. They (Public stations) are also looking at a statewide conversion to 3.0 for all the public stations, of course further down the road. Again, thank you, xmguy, for the information. Like always, until more news breaks, that's all for now.

6 Comments

itgrouch

- Posted on May 17th, 2022 at 3:19am

The local station ownership corporations and the National Association of Broadcasters are all in on ATSC 3.0. ATSC 1.0 is still going to be with us for a while. However, as the cost of the chipsets for ATSC 3.0 tuners for TV sets begin to get less expensive, they will trickle down to the lower cost TV sets and inexpensive converter devices. This is when we should see the larger ownership corporations to start moving to ATSC 3.0 solely. I have a TV set that has an ATSC 3.0 tuner and since I live in an apartment community, I have to use an indoor antenna. I have no issues receiving the ATSC 3.0 signal from our local stations. And the signal is rock solid, even with a flat antenna. None are broadcasting in 4K, as the ATSC 3.0 standard supports, but the picture quality is quite good. It will be interesting to see more and more of the stations start implementing some of the extra features the ATSC 3.0 standard provides, such a on demand programing and the like. WTVF is using this technology now. The future looks extremely bright for over the air broadcasting.

xmguy

- Posted on May 18th, 2022 at 3:56am - Edited

You're welcome NashDigie! 3.0 is a game changer in my view. I recently made a trip to Tullahoma and took my HDHR4K and laptop on the road. I was able to get a signal lock here and there, and even decode LIVE TV while traveling some too. With 1.0 that was NEVER possible. Not since the Analog TV days was mobile, or even slightly moving viewing was that possible. The signal is not just good for viewing but the modulation schemes, especially with the lower QAMs are SO good that I can get a semi lock nearly 70 miles away here in McMinnville with the cheapest of antennas. It is amazing really. While it will be a while, I do think 3.0 is the future. I just hope the broadcasters use it wisely. Personally it's the way I watch WTVF at night since my LED security light kills reception on RF 5, and I can't get RF 36 in the spring/summer months. But even the QAM 256 signal from RF 21 I can get. The higher modulations are still not as good as some of their 1.0 counterparts. I can seldom get QAM 256 for RF 30 (mostly during tropo/skip at night). But I feel that's down to their power output. Only time will tell what everyone in TN will do. Both from an NAB side, and consumer side.

Leatherneck97

- Posted on May 18th, 2022 at 6:56pm

I just seen on RabbitEars and on HDHomerun that HSN was added to channel 28 on 28.8. Just checked to see if it is online and it is showing the channel programming.

NashDigie

- Posted on May 18th, 2022 at 9:25pm

Thank you for letting me know. I missed this one.

Leatherneck97

- Posted on May 18th, 2022 at 9:27pm

You're welcome.

Leatherneck97

- Posted on May 31st, 2022 at 3:37am

Just a theory I have but I think that Me-TV will be on channel 35 as a placeholder as one of the four channels on channel 35 when it goes online. I might be wrong on this theory but I feel like that Lowcountry will put that as either 35.1 or somewhere on the channel list as WJFB does not cover the range of the whole coverage area.

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