Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffhs
Why should Cleveland be any different from any other city in the country where DTV subchannels are concerned? Where is it written that Cleveland cannot have subchannel programming on its existing seven TV channels? I have lived in northeastern Ohio my entire life, and have never heard of any such statute.
IMHO, there should be no restrictions in Cleveland as to what subchannels can be piggybacked onto the city's existing stations' main signals. Cleveland should have the opportunity to have DTV subchannels if the stations agree to it and can afford it. The city has been made fun of and maligned far too much already in the last 40 years (and it continues to this day). Keeping its TV stations from having DTV subchannels when other cities, yes, including Detroit, has had them for some time, doesn't make sense to me.
I honestly don't know where you get your information. How do you know so much about Cleveland television, anyway, when you live in Michigan?
 Did you live in the Cleveland/northeast Ohio area and/or work in TV in the area at one time?
The lack of RTN and other subchannels on Cleveland's commercial TV channels will, IMHO, just boost the sales of DVDs and DVD players in northeastern Ohio, as more viewers turn to DVDs to watch their favorite old classic shows. I am just about ready to downgrade my cable service to basic myself (I currently have Time Warner expanded basic cable), watching DVDs for other programming. As it is, I watch very little broadcast TV these days, instead watching DVDs of the old shows of the '70s I grew up with; in fact, I have a small collection of DVDs and VHS tapes of such programs as Quincy, Kojak, The Odd Couple, and more (I am adding more DVDs from time to time as well). I don't think I would miss the extra channels in the expanded basic package at all.
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Sheeeesh . . . Good grief. |
The Cleveland TV stations are regular visitors to Southeast Michigan during the summer. Troposperic refraction develops easily over Lake Erie, and the high terrain of Parma is close enough the lake that nothing in Cleveland Proper disrupts the path.
I would say that WEWS-DT (the most reliable) is in more than half of the time from May through early September.
I've also observed the subchannels of all the Cleveland stations using my portable DTV rig. I go to Richfield on a almost-monthly basis (has to do with another hobby I have).
The "dictate" would have nothing to do with the FCC, and would take the form of a "gentlemens' agreement" (in ironic euphemism) between various media interests. Exactly who would not want subchannels in Cleveland, I can't specualte.