Thread: RTN Gone!!!
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Old 01-08-2009, 11:14 AM
Robert Grant's Avatar
Robert Grant Robert Grant is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Monroe County, MI
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffhs View Post
<smip> RTN states on its web site that it is always adding affiliates, but I have seen very little evidence of that lately, according to their affiliate map. Perhaps their thinking is that anyone outside the local broadcast range of an RTN affiliate will be receiving it on cable or satellite, so why even bother adding new stations? If this is in fact their rationale, they really should not, IMHO, state so boldly that they are always adding new stations. From what I've seen so far on the affiliate map, this isn't so, or else the network is adding affiliates so slowly it isn't funny.

My guess that the bankruptcy of Equity Media made it difficult for RTN to sign up new affiliates.

I also suspect that there is an unwritten dictate not to develop subchannels on commercial stations in the Cleveland market. WEWS has no subchannels, even though co-owned (and also ABC affiliate) WXYZ Detroit has two (RTN on 7.2 and local weather loop on 7.3). WUAB had The Tube, but, since that service went bust, their 43.2 has been running a still graphic (announcing that The Tube is no longer available) for 15 months now! This in a market where the PBS (WVIZ) DT had (until very recently) been transmitting a totally inadequate 1kW at 30m. I would have though that the main WVIZ stream would have made a very good fill-in on 43.2. Another wasted opportunity is WQHS. It has no subchannel, but I have never seen any HD programming on it. Why not put co-owned Telefutura on 61.2?

Rob

Last edited by Robert Grant; 01-08-2009 at 11:16 AM. Reason: fix small typos
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