Local TV questions....

[Kevin Vahey]

Many seniors are not happy that Lawrence Welk vanished (GBH has NEVER aired
Welk)




On Thu, Sep 12, 2013 at 10:06 PM, Garrett Wollman <wollman@bimajority.org>wrote:

> <<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
>
>
>