when analog TV signals end

[Scott Fybush]

marklaurence@mac.com wrote:

> Wouldn't it be worth it for all the broadcast networks to get
> together and agree on a single channel number for all their
> affiliates?   It would be temporary confusion for sure, but no more
> than when local stations swapped affiliates.  They could promote
> their channel numbers nationally, and even rename themselves like
> "Channel 4" in the UK.  It would give them a big advantage over all
> the cable networks which always find themselves in some forgettable
> position like channel 164.

The idea has come up, and there's a provision in the rules for the use 
of virtual channels 70-99 for just that purpose. I think PBS has picked 
out a channel number up there (80?) for national services, and Tribune 
applied at one point for all of its stations to use 75.

Such a unified numbering scheme would make some sense for new networks 
like CW and Pax/i. At this point, I think there's too much entrenched 
branding on the lower end of the dial to make it work for the older 
networks. ABC, for instance, would certainly want to put all its 
stations on "Channel 7," where its O&Os in NY, Chicago, LA and San 
Francisco are all located. But there's not a chance in creation that Ed 
Ansin would want to risk the viewer confusion that would result from 
WCVB becoming "channel 7" and WHDH becoming something else (probably "4" 
in a national scheme, since that's where KNBC and WNBC are).

And that doesn't even bring up the question of what would happen in an 
affiliation swap. Imagine such a scheme had been in place in 1995, and 
WBZ/NBC had been on the default NBC channel of 4, while WHDH/CBS was on 
the default CBS channel of 2. Would WBZ have become "channel 2" after 
the swap?

The national channel number scheme works better in countries where each 
channel is under common ownership nationwide, like Britain. I could see 
it working (eventually) in Canada, where recent consolidations now mean 
that CTV owns all but a tiny fraction of its affiliates, as do Global 
and CityTV. The CBC has also eliminated all but a few of its 
privately-owned affiliates.

Channel-number branding is all but unknown these days in Canada, anyway, 
since the CRTC mandates that big-city cable systems remap VHF stations 
to channels away from their off-air signals. Cable penetration in many 
big Canadian cities is over 80%, so most Torontonians, for instance, 
don't even know that the CBC is on channel 5 or CTV on channel 9.

There's even some province-wide coordination of cable channel numbering, 
so Global is seen on 3 in most of Ontario. It would make lots of sense 
for them to eventually settle on "3" as a permanent DTV virtual channel 
number. (CKVR, which is over-the-air 3 in Barrie, would need a different 
virtual channel number under that scheme.)

s