Local TV questions....

[Garrett Wollman]

<<On Thu, 12 Sep 2013 17:48:40 -0700 (PDT), "D. A." <donald_astelle@yahoo.com> said:

> So, on Comcast in Massachusetts...we will not see the pledge breaks
> on any channel?  (Or whatever it is the run in place of Greater
> Boston?  There is NO feed of whatever is running over-the-air on
> Channel 11?

That is correct.  WGBH made an agreement with Comcast to take WENH off
systems in Massachusetts and to take WGBH off systems in New
Hampshire.  In terms of the national PBS schedule, the two stations
have run the same programming since WGBH began operating NHPTV.

Comcast customers in the southern half of the market can still get
WSBE (36 Providence), since they haven't been forced to sell out.
(NHPTV lost its annual state appropriation, and USNH sold the station
to a newly-stood-up charity which could not afford to operate the
stations itself, so they agreed to divide the market with WGBH.  I'd
be interested to know what that has done to contributions -- I know I
no longer give to NHPTV, and I've never supported WGBH, so it's
conceivable that this change has resulted in an irreversible loss of
NHPTV donors.)  I'm sure WGBH would happily take over WSBE as well,
eliminating the remaining comptetition, if given the opportunity.

The theory goes that since "everyone" (i.e., people who can afford to
donate to a public broadcaster) has a DVR now, and "nobody" watches
television live any more, there is no longer any value to running the
PBS schedule "out of pattern".  WGBH did pick up some shows that NHPTV
had been the only source for, including the 2005 series of "Antiques
Roadshow" from BBC America that has run at least a dozen times over
now.

-GAWollman