Re: NorthEast Radio Watch 11/5: Big Bird Gets to Live

[Kevin Vahey <kvahey@megsinet.net>]

> Not unless somebody like Hearst-Argyle takes over.  Actually scratch that;
> they own Channel 31, don't they? :)
>

H-A is a BRUTAL outfit when you see the stations on the lower end of the
foodchain. Their Tampa Bay outlet Channel 32 (licensed to Lakeland ) may be
the worst looking station I have ever seen in a large market.

WPTZ Plattsburg hasn't faired too well either since H-A took them over and
they have managed to upset a company that can hurt them bigtime when it
comes to the bottomline. That company is Videotron which controls cable-tv
in most parts of populated Quebec province and frankly WPTZ needs to keep
them happy, not the other way around. Some parts of the Montreal grid have
been showing the Boston network stations ( 4, 5 and 7) instead of 3, 5 and
22. Simply put Videotron can get a cleaner signal from the bird, than over
the air or by microwave.

The CRTC doesn't seem to care too much where the US networks are imported
from as long as they know. I know in Toronto, Rogers Cable toyed with the
idea of importing signals from Detroit, but scraped the idea as the Buffalo
stations have been part of the Toronto landscape forever. Friends of mine in
Montreal have remarked in passing that they find our local news interesting
( especially Channel 7 ) and have never really cared for Plattsburg and
Burlington news.