WGBH/WGBX/WBTS [and WFXZ]

[George Allen]

Scott - interesting perspective, which I did not have.  Thanks!


At 01:49 PM 1/21/2020, Scott Fybush wrote:
WGBH is playing a long game.

When ATSC 3 becomes a reality, a few things will happen:

1. The low-VHF signal on 5 will become the ATSC 3 
test bed. Anyone using ATSC1 will be watching 
WGBX for as long as ATSC1 lasts, because it will 
be the "lighthouse" ATSC1 signal for WGBH, WGBX and WBTS.

2. The ATSC3 signal on RF 5 will come in better 
than it does now in ATSC1. ATSC3 is just more 
robust, and can carry more data. No, your current 
TV can't pick it up, but cheap tuners will be out 
there in abundance in a year or two.

3. In a few more years, when the move to ATSC3 is 
complete, WGBH will have lots of options. There 
will be enough data on the WGBX RF32 signal to 
carry everything - 2.1, 44.1, WBTS, WFXZ - and 
then some. They could move everything there and 
use the RF5 signal for new programming and 
services.  Or they could find that low-V works 
decently for ATSC3 and leave some services there.

They're thinking way ahead.


On Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 1:10 PM George Allen <geo.allen@comcast.net> wrote:
Apologies if it's already been covered here, but I finally figured
out what's where with RF Ch. 32 [WGBX].  3 different station call
letters on one RF channel - no wonder I'm confused.  1 HD, and 6
subchannels with low bitrates for them.
https://rabbitears.info/market.php?request=print_station&facility_id=72098

Does anyone know how much WBTS/NBC-10 pays [ongoing?] WGBH for use of
the RF-32 HD slot?

What's with the subchannel dimensions of 704/480? How does that
become 16:9?  I'm missing something here.

The same info for RF-5, where both WGBH and WGBX HD [and WFXZ] live:
https://rabbitears.info/market.php?request=print_station&facility_id=72099

I suppose that's worth the $162 million WGBH got for moving to
VHF-low.  Did that net them more than taking VHF-hi would have?
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-17-314A2.pdf [this link
has been posted here before]
Add another $57 million for WGBY's move to VHF-high [RF-13].
https://rabbitears.info/market.php?request=print_station&facility_id=72096

Hopefully the 4.9x power increase [later this month maybe?] will be
enough for my rabbit ears on a Terk HD-TVA.  I can see the d@mn tower
from my living room in Swampscott, and can just barely get them with
the ears fully extended [visually messy...].  All these decisions by
WGBH to cash out spectrum were probably made before cord-cutting
became much of a thing.  Yes, I can get low-def 2-1/44-1 on RF-32,
but on a decent large-screen 4k TV the difference is obvious.