Flint viewers left behind again

[sinklair]

There ate few opportunities in today’s competitive TV landscape for the owners of Flint-Saginaw TV stations to truly work together. But with the rollout of NextGen TV standard (ATSC 3.0), Sinclair (owners of WEYI, WSMH and WBSF), Meredith (WNEM) and Gray (WJRT) are all investors. So as markets continue to roll out this new technology, you’d think markets where they’d have a mutual presence would be near the top of the list of first adopters. In many cases that’s true... except for Flint viewers.

https://www.streetinsider.com/dr/news.p ... 3755&gfv=1

Detroit is rolling out NextGen. A non-Pearl group member WKAR (PBS-Lansing) is already up and running.

[km1125]

How many of Flint's residents can afford to run out and buy a new TV or ATSC 3.0 tuner??


Oh, probably quite a few, to go along with their iPads and iPhones that they "really had to have", while they still couldn't (or wouldn't) pay their water bills.

[CK-722]

If you look at the pockets of prosperity in Flint, such as Woodcroft Estates, Woodlawn Park Estates, Flint Golf Club Sub, Westgate Park Estates, etc., plus most of the rest of Genesee County, most can afford a new converter or TV.

What they should do is all get together for an STA for a single new TV station with all local ATSC 3.0 feeds. There is a precedent-WKAR-TV has been allowed to do it, not sure if it is still authorized.

[sinklair]

It’s more about the lack of investment in communities like Flint. Why should this market be one of the last to get new technology?

Not that the new Shipped In from Out of Town new Sinclair GM or the Director of Engineering would go to Mark Aiken and corporate heads at the Sinclair Death Star... because that would actually make sense.

[YpsiGuy]

Highly disappointed in the ATSC 3.0 rollout down here in the Detroit area. There are five main channel .1 feeds on WMYD, of which three are only in 720p and 2 are 1080p (upconverted 1080i). No 4K HDR.

I will definitely wait until ATSC 3.0 tuners are available and CHEAP. I’ll let others beta test this stuff.

[sinklair]

Ypsi: this may be the case where more adoptees will drive down the cost of the new technology. At least let’s hope that’s the case!

[YpsiGuy]

We can hope!

One thing that would make me buy a ATSC 3.0 sooner is if WBSF became the Flint DMA lighthouse station. It is the strongest signal up here in the Thumb area and I could use it to get a reliable main channel signal for all others like WJRT, WNEM, etc, etc.
But that would require Sinclair to do something competent, which I am certainly not depending on...lol.

[sinklair]

Ypsi: I wouldn’t hold my breath of Sinclair using much common sense. However, Sinclair also owns Dieletric, which would likely be used to upgrade local broadcast towers to the NextGen televisions. So they should know how to improve the signal quality in the thumb.

I’d also like to see the Sinclair Death Star to finally push the FCC to transfer Lapeer and Sanilac counties to the Flint DMA. Right now, the Detroit stations ignore these areas. The NextGen transition would be a good time for us to increase power to expand our reach into these counties. But that would require the Shipped In from Out of Town new Sinclair GM and our Director of Engineering to force the conversation and make the case. WJRT has also pushed for the market expansion in the past, but failed in its go it alone approach. We really need Sinclair, Gray and Meredith to work together for once in the interests of viewers.

[YpsiGuy]

I agree Sinklair. It is incredibly odd to me that Sanilac county is in the Detroit DMA. I live mostly in the Detroit DMA, but am also up here a decent amount of time as well. What the Thumb really needs is a 100 to 150 kW repeater for the Flint DMA main .1 channels if done via UHF. Just south of Bad Axe would work the best. They don’t even need to be in 720p or 1080i. 480i in ATSC 1.0 would work just fine for folks up here. Beggars can’t be choosers.

The subchannels that are carried by Flint DMA stations can be reliably received via Dish Network.

But I am not optimistic, as I have a front row seat for the WUDT-LD and WNWO ongoing co-channel interference problem on RF23 between Detroit and Toledo. WNWO is another station of the Sinclair Death Star.

[YpsiGuy]

I agree Sinklair. It is incredibly odd to me that Sanilac county is in the Detroit DMA. I live mostly in the Detroit DMA, but am also up here a decent amount of time as well. What the Thumb really needs is a 100 to 150 kW repeater for the Flint DMA main .1 channels if done via UHF. Just south of Bad Axe would work the best. They don’t even need to be in 720p or 1080i. 480i in ATSC 1.0 would work just fine for folks up here. Beggars can’t be choosers.

The subchannels that are carried by Flint DMA stations can be reliably received via Dish Network.

But I am not optimistic, as I have a front row seat for the WUDT-LD and WNWO ongoing co-channel interference problem on RF23 between Detroit and Toledo. WNWO is another station of the Sinclair Death Star.

Just a side note, down here near Ypsilanti (Detroit and Toledo), I get 13 different major network station main channels OTA, along with 23 different and “watch worthy” subchannels. That’s after I delete the shopping and religious crap.

OTA in the Thumb area is nearly unusable.

[innate-in-you]

How many of Flint's residents can afford to run out and buy a new TV or ATSC 3.0 tuner??


Oh, probably quite a few, to go along with their iPads and iPhones that they "really had to have", while they still couldn't (or wouldn't) pay their water bills.

Would you buy high-octane leaded water and drink it?

[km1125]

How many of Flint's residents can afford to run out and buy a new TV or ATSC 3.0 tuner??


Oh, probably quite a few, to go along with their iPads and iPhones that they "really had to have", while they still couldn't (or wouldn't) pay their water bills.

Would you buy high-octane leaded water and drink it?

Their problems started when residents didn't pay their bills and the local administration wouldn't enforce charges and cut off services. They also didn't maintain their system and had tons of waste due to numerous leaks. They were getting great water from Detroit. All that happened prior to them shifting to using their own water source locally.