60.5

[Scott Fybush]

This is actually legit, and the rules provide for it. One of the rules 
allows a station to use its major channel number over other subchannels 
that it controls - and so the WMFP transmitter can (and does) carry both 
62.x and, in this case, 60.5.

The onus is on the broadcaster to avoid conflicts of both major and 
minor channel number, and that's why Comcast is taking care to use 60.5 
here. If you can get both WNEU and WMFP, you'll get 60.1/2/3/4 coming 
from the WNEU transmitter and 60.5 from the WMFP transmitter. If you get 
only WMFP, you'll get 60.5 but not the other 60.x channels, and if you 
get only WNEU, you'll get 60.1/2/3/4 but not .5.

Fox uses this a LOT at its local stations and has done so for years - so 
in New York, WNYW is seen on both 5.1 over its own transmitter (RF 44) 
and on 5.2 over the transmitter of sister WWOR (RF 38), and vice versa 
for WWOR's 9.1 and 9.2. This mattered right after 9/11 when WNYW had a 
more robust auxiliary setup than WWOR; it also matters in places like 
Minneapolis, where one Fox-owned station is on VHF and the other on UHF.

Some public broadcasters do this as well - the equivalent would be if 
WGBH used 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5 for the streams it carries over WGBX.

It's surprisingly transparent to the end user.

s

On 12/20/2016 11:35 AM, Bob DeMattia wrote:
> I have never seen an instance where the major channel number differs
> between subchannels coming from the same transmitter.  Also, the FCC has
> rules about
> the major channel number - it is usually required that the channel number
> has
> to either match the RF channel number, or match the "old" channel number
> from
> the analog days.
>
> There have been a few exceptions - such as this channel 8 thing on the
> WBTS-LP
> transmitter or KAXT-CD ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KAXT-CD ).
>
> However, if they really are doing this, then people who can't receive WNEU
> won't
> see 62.5, even if they are able to receive WMFP.
>
> What a mess.
>
> -Bob
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 19, 2016 at 11:27 PM, Richard Chonak <richard@chonak.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi--
>>
>> The announcement from NBC said that 60.5 would come from WMFP, so I assume
>> they are following that plan:
>>
>> http://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/NBC-Boston-Reaches-
>> Agreement-to-Increase-Over-the-Air-Signal-406069125.html
>>
>> It seems to be a strange situation, in which 60.2 comes from WNEU (RF 34)
>> and 60.5 comes from WMFP (RF 18).
>>
>> --RC
>>
>>
>>
>> On 12/19/2016 10:53 PM, Bob DeMattia wrote:
>>
>> WMFP PSIP is 62.1, 3, 4  (RF18).
>>
>> Channel 60 (RF 34) is the WNEU transmitter
>>
>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2016 at 6:57 PM, Richard Chonak via Boston-Radio-Interest
>> <boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>> From: Richard Chonak <richard@chonak.com>
>>> To: Sean Smyth <ssmyth@alumni.psu.edu>, Boston Radio Interest Board <
>>> boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org>
>>> Cc:
>>> Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2016 18:57:35 -0500
>>> Subject: Re:
>>> 60.5, really.  I ran a re-scan, viewed the "channel list" for my set, and
>>> 60-5 was there, identified as "WBTS-LD".  No other 60-channels appeared,
>>> while 62-1, -3, and -4 remained unchanged.
>>>
>>> --RC
>>>
>>>
>>> On 12/19/2016 06:20 PM, Sean Smyth wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2016 at 5:09 PM Richard Chonak via Boston-Radio-Interest
>>>> <boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org <mailto:
>>>> boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>     Today, WMFP started transmitting the NBC Boston "countdown"
>>>>     programming
>>>>
>>>>     (NECN content) on 60.5.  The video is 720p.
>>>>
>>>> Do you mean 62.5? I tried pulling up 62.5 early this morning, but got
>>>> redirected to 62.1.
>>>>
>>>> Jimmy Swaggart is still on the air, apparently.
>>>> --
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>