Versant

MS Now logo

 Versant are the new group that have MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), USA Network, CNBC (which will stay the same), E!, Rotten Tomatoes (although a film review site, not a network), Bravo, Syfy, and the Golf Channel. Comcast are spinning off NBCUniversals cable group into a separate company with their own NASDAQ ticker to boot. Resident morning power couple Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski even said on air that they had to move to a new studio. USA Network may still have the Law & Order franchise since Scripps's ION and Fox's MyNetworkTV do as well. Not sure if it'd go back to how it was in the old days before sister company Studios USA briefly absorbed Universal Television. The channels with scripted and reality shows should start to come up with new, original programming instead of resting on their laurels and relying on reruns of old guard classics in order to compete with streaming. Versant are a fresh new, young company with several assets carrying decades-old legacies.

Sign above TV at Planet Fitness revised.

Nexstar-Tegna merger and WNY

NBC 2 WGRZ On Your Side studios in Buffalo; 16 August 2021.

Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 TV station conglomerates Nexstar and Tegna have announced their merger. Of course, this needs approval from the FCC and FTC, and some stations will have to be sold off, particularly where they overlap. One area I know is Buffalo. Tegna, which spun off of USA Today owner Gannett in 2015, own NBC 2 WGRZ, their only station in New York State, while owning many NBC affiliates in other states. Nexstar are far bigger, owning NBC 2's competitor CBS 4 WIVB, as well as CNY's ABC affiliates NewsChannel 9 WSYR in Syracuse and ABC 20 WUTR in Utica to name a few. Since Buffalo is a larger market than Syracuse, having the boys' turf nearby for added ratings to boot, having it like CNYcentral back in my area may not work, which has CW 6, while CBS 4 is sister to O&O CW 23 WNLO. So much for WNYcentral, if you like. NBC 4 could be sold to Hearst, Hubbard, Weigel, Mission, Cox, Gray (who have CBS 12 WBNG in Binghamton and CBS 7 WWNY in Watertown in the state to date), or Deltavision (who just bought CBS 12's rival Fox 40 WICZ and their sister stations Fox 68 WSYT/my 43 WNYS). Scripps already have yet another WNY station, ABC 7 WKBW along with ION (who have the affiliate for Buffalo and Rochester run out of Batavia), while Sinclair have Fox 29 WUTV and my 49 WNYO. Even in the age of streaming, these deals are still lucrative. Tegna also own ABC 16 WNEP in the Scranton/Wilkes Barre area, the other NBC 3 WKYC in Cleveland, and flagship CBS 9 WUSA in Washington, DC. As for NBC 2 and in other markets in the same boat, Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said he won't have his and Tegnas stations operations combined, so it's likely these will all be sold over the next year or so, even as FCC policies are changing.

Merit Street TV from Dr Phil

Dr Phil McGraw in Jackson County on 9 October 2008. Courtesy Craig O'Neal. CC-by-NC-ND-2.0

 Dr Phil McGraw is Americas therapist. Since Oprah Winfreys beef with beef in 1998 in Amarillo, TX, his tough love tactics have made him a household name. Dr Phil aired in first-run syndication from 2002-23 for twenty-one series (on NBC 3 and CW 6 in CNY). Now he and his wife Robyn have returned to their North Texas/South Oklahoma roots and moved back to the DFW area and started Merit Street Media. While there have been bumps along the road, Merit Street has taken the brand to a new place. However, less than half the country can get it on terrestrial or even cable if they don't want to get the app or their streaming service doesn't provide it yet either. Dish and DirecTV have it coast to coast, as do some streamers. RabbitEars have an affiliate list with some major markets and smaller cities. On Merit Streets own site, you just put in your zip code as would with the old guard to see how to watch in your area (this is how you "Check your local listings" in todays world). In mine, all three major station groups have room on their tiers, while the flagship in the tri-state carry Merit Street on two smaller stations, one being frontline and the other with two more upstart networks that need their own articles, which will have to wait for another day, since I've focused more on the sister blog lately and other other one on occasion. It'd take forever to canvas roughly 200 markets to see who has room, but even the lowest rated ones (population-wise by the Nielsens standards) could somehow squeeze it in somewhere.
    Dr Phil is as much a quotefest as Yogi Berra or any classic film, and his southern wisdom guides me to this day, and I could use him with my own personal issues, even though his Primetime show is not quite the same as its predecessor. He is now independent from CBS/Paramount, which is about to change hands again, which may have been a factor in breaking out of LA and the post-postwar studio system (the infancy of television was a catalyst for the studios' spinoff of cinemas, but not right now).

UPDATE (3 July 2025): Merit TV have entered administration, so there may not be much expansion at this time, since they're showing reruns for now. The partnership with TBN has also soured, with pending litigation. Dr Phil and Steve Harvey have launched the content-driven app Envoy Media Co.

Cable 13

Edited screenshot of logo. Courtesy Syracuse Nostalgia.

 I was given several items to sell (anything pertaining to this business is now sold) by a former presenter/employee of Cable 13, which was on Syracuse CableSystems/Cooke CableVision/Adelphia Cable in the City of Syracuse (covered earlier) and NewChannels in the Suburbs (both absorbed by Time Warner Cable in the mid-to-late '90s and the rest of Adelphia in 2006). Not to be confused with the local public access channel, which I think was on channel 7 in those days (before there was even an internet, let alone a YouTube or TikTok). This couldn't be over the air back then because of ABC 13 WOKR in Rochester (now WHAM), NewsChannel 13 WNYT (NBC) in Albany, and possibly (even though it's further away than PBS flagship WNET in New York) CTV 13 CJOH in Ottawa, ONT (with a repeater of CTV 6 in Cornwall or Deseronto under CRTC regulations and closer to the North Country on US soil), although an unrelated, short-lived low-power station, WNNY-LP 13.1, was registered with the FCC in more recent memory, but the licence was cancelled since the station never even went on the air. I found the logo by screenshot-ting an embarrassing, low-budget promo on YouTube, and later cut out the crawl. From what I can remember, there would be sports, kids shows, teen shows, local sports (high school and college), technology, and public affairs. As cable became more diversified, the scope of channel 13 changed, and would become TWC Sports for CNY (becoming Spectrum by 2016). There was one show called Life Without Shame, which came up on Facebook. Much else has faded into obscurity, but Cable 13 has a unique place in Syracuse TV history.

Carriage Dispute Healing

Part graffiti, part abstract art, part ransom note!

The TV business, like life, is one big Whack-a-Mole! Until Congress stop messing about (don't get me started), laws not upgraded since the Clinton administration will keep cable and satellite providers and broadcasters and networks, as well as the taxpayers to their own devices. Once again, I had to go beyond earthly means as described in the last post.  This time, the list on the left says Dish, DirecTV, Comcast Xfinity (Comcast as both owner of NBC O&OS like NBC 4 in NYC and LA and with the telecom Xfinity), and on the right, Hearst, Nexstar, Mission, Cox and Comcast again. The peace symbol from the previous entry is in the middle. I had to edit out typos and unrelated names on the desktop, which is why it now looks like a mishmash and so I wouldn't have to upload a hard copy all over again. Of course, this will only happen again, and I just can't keep up. Hearst owned many newspapers in the postwar era (I just know the Albany one), and are now a minority owner of ESPN, which is dominated by Disney, yet only have NBC 5 in Clinton County in my state. I took off Dish a while ago due to downsizing and other personal reasons. I drew one of these for the UAW strike too, but they're having less trouble by comparison, as far getting back to the bargaining table instead of another shade trade.

Back to the Table Talk

What the spirits led me to make.

I haven't posted in a period, not necessarily in solidarity with the writer and actors, but rather, there hasn't been much to add here that the established media hasn't already covered, and I've focused more on the sister blogs, as well as my own life. However, in a desperate search for answers, I went to the book shop and bought City Magick by Christopher Penczak. In the chapter Language of the Streets, he talks about Graffiti Sigils (not signals per se). One that stuck out was one that stood for making peace, which is what the studios and unions need to do after months of unending anguish. I'm no expert on wicca myself, mind, but I tried drawing the sigil (as opposed to tag or sign) and even wrote the names of the union and organisation initialisms, studios and a couple key names in sloppy, graffiti-esque font, along with other symbols for divine femininity (for Nanny star turned SAG-AFTRA leader Fran Drescher), health and balance, and removing obstacles, trying to conjure healing. The peace sigil even looks like the word strive, which is what the SAG-AFTRA and WGA-E & W members continue to do each day as they fight for everything they're owed.  I even tried pulling out the late Lew Wasserman, who knew Ronald Reagan when the later US President became head of SAG during the 1960 double strike. The 1988 writers strike was the last major Hollywood one in eithers lifetime and the second in mine. They didn't live to see the 2007-08 one, let alone this. They wouldn't be surprised by this one.

The latter and AMPTP return to the table this coming week. They must sort out the mess by this stage, then the others have their turn and we can move forward. A right fortune has been lost on many fronts.

In my drawing, the list on the left has Netflix, Hulu, Comcast, AMPTP, amazon, Sony, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), Disney and Paramount. In the centre are the sigils for health and balance, divine  femininity, Fran (Drescher), peace, and higher guidance. On the right are IATSE, WGA-E, WGA-W, SAG-AFTRA, Lew (Wasserman) [typo fixed after upload], Reagan (Nancy might've gotten all this) and my signature. I wouldn't dare buy a tin of spray paint and go Banksy on someones property. MC Hammer said to do it on paper on a show he had in 1991 (that always stuck with me). Some may think shaman is sham and man put together, and I'm not one of those or using any label here, but I do have empath abilities, and it drives what I do. Life is not always like it is on TV, even "reality" TV.

I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! US Series 3

Caitlyn Jenner, 2017

 While all strikes eventually end, reality shows filled the vacuum since writers aren't needed.  Cops on Fox helped pave the way back in 1988, despite its reputation and also being an occasional target for parody (usually by another show on the network).  The turn of the millennium made "reality" a reality.

I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! is a franchise from the UK made by ITV and also has international counterparts.  Twice, they tried in the US, several years apart; Series 1 on ABC, which included the now-Caitlyn Jenner (she went to the flagship later), and Series 2 six years on at NBC.  Neither did well in the ratings and were cancelled, making it another yet thing that just didn't catch on here in the States.  We even had Ant & Dec themselves over once for their other franchise Wanna Bet?, and they can't get arrested here either!  I heard of the Tyneside duo through The Irish Sun years ago.

Whilst we wait for a truce, maybe a third season could be pitched to another network or streamer.  It could be seen as an all-star Survivor, if you like, or even like a Celebrity Big Brother in the wilds.  Forgotten or washed-up celebs like A Martinez, Roseanne Barr, or even Lori Beth Denberg could revive their careers by going on the show.  Martina McBride doesn't know if she'll ever sing again and recover like country competitor Shania Twain, so she can do all these challenges in the middle of nowhere.  Singer-actor Jill Scott may participate since the athlete of the same name just did the last UK series with Boy George.

I stopped watching this kind of show a long time ago because I have no interest.  Annie Lennox has spoken out about celebrity culture.  I know that she and four others I mentioned are more suited for the sister blog.  I love Boy George to bits, and he signed a big deal to do the show just after he and Culture Club were in town again despite a row with the ex.  Anyway, it's just an idea of what could be done for now, as this is a bridge that has to be repaired, not burned, if you will.  Even when everything's back to normal, IACGMOOHUS might be a reboot that reintroduces the overseas sensation to North American audiences.  There could also be two Canadian versions, each in English and French, for Canadian content purposes with people from there, and they can also go to Australia or South Africa, staying in the Commonwealth, or go to Costa Rica or another out of the way locale, like the US or UK versions.

WGA Strike

Tim Robbins at the 2007-08 strike downstate (WGA-E), November 2007 (the ex went to Albany instead this year)

 Here we go again.  The studios and the Writers' Guild of America have failed in negotiations and WGA are once more are on the picket line.  A strike is the last resort for any union.  The last one from November 2007 to February 2008 cost over a billion dollars in lost revenue just before the last recession to boot.  I just hope this one isn't as long.  They don't last forever.  Every union eventually have to return to the bargaining table and sort it out with management.  Streaming and now AI are everywhere, and residuals aren't as guaranteed after fifty years time.  The pandemic has also affected Hollywood and pretty much all of society, and has emboldened workers to fight for more, from a rise to benefits to better treatment.  We all want that, and it's frustrating to see an industry tied up when one side or the other isn't ready to haggle.  For less lucrative labour, when David or Goliath is at the end of his rope at it were, then it's time to settle.  Glad I was too young to notice when this happened in the late '80s.  This isn't the kind of business that can have scabs like a plant because of the money and lawyers involved.  We had less trouble with the railway row just a while ago, even though they didn't get everything they demanded.  I'm no Norma Rae myself, mind, but I was in a union myself once.

Writers, we all love you and appreciate all of your hard work.  Fight the good fight and go back to the table soon so history doesn't repeat itself.  I'm not trying to meddle or cross the picket line, but nobody wants this to drag on into next season.  I'll ask the spirits when we can expect you to reconcile with the studios with the crystal ball, the original AI or AP wire since antiquity, if you like (it says 13 May or 8 June [checked thrice], or even when strike funds run out).  Good luck in the trenches.  Come back soon.

COVID-19

Dr Phil with SUNY Oswego alum Al Roker on the Today show, 2006.

With coronavirus the elephant in the room, all aspects of life are affected.  Shows with studio audiences like Dr Phil either have to close or tape without one (although reruns of his show are on OWN, other series that don't have to be current such as The Price is Right or soaps could go into their vaults).  Getting guests over would be a bit of a risk too on top of problems they may already have.  Like many people, I'm watching the news helplessly trying to cope with something unheard of before in living memory.  Meanwhile, Dish and Apollo/Cox have declared a truce ending their dispute as maybe other proviers and owners until after Easter as having people even tele-conferencing can be hard right now.  I'm ready to ask a psychic when any break will arrive.
Long-running shows in syndication could air reruns from recent past seasons if they go through this series' and can't make new episodes right now, but freshman shows will have the same episodes to go through sooner than usual.  We all hope all this will ease up someday.

Gears Firestick

NBC 4's studio at 30 Rockefeller Plaza

The other week, I went to the hairdressers and the TV was able to get flagship NBC 4 WNBC from downstate.  It seemed perplexing to get something from 200 miles away that easily.  Turned out it was Gears Firestick, which carries stations from around the country and globe, and includes all of what you'd find on cable and satellite.  It's a streaming service competing with Roku, Sling, amazon, Netflix and Hulu.  You'd have to have a good internet account with enough data and bandwidth.  Would make sense with the endless carriage disputes for which no law can stop as it'd compete with bigger issues in Washington.  Also, if something isn't available locally, you can find a channel that carries it.  I told the hairdresser how I got the NYC stations when I lived up the river two decades ago.  I also told her Italian pubcaster RAI may be on there too as she just went on holiday there.  She has the service at home too, but if I ever change course at home, I'd consider subscribing as well.  However, I heard somewhere, it could be a pirate service; todays version of the "cheater cable box" from thirty years ago (I'm old now!).

Replacements for Spectrum

Willimantic, CT office.

The honeymoon's over!  Albany is showing Spectrum the door.  After being slated for not living up to their promise, New York State is looking to get them out.  Another company will have to take over the rights as a whole or portions of the state affected by this move.  There are a number of providers that could reach the northeast:

Comcast (although they've been in the same boat, yet own networks like NBC and USA)
Altice Optimum (much of downstate has this which absorbed Cablevision)
Haefle Cable (for around Cortland and Ithaca as they have rural communities like Virgil)
Atlantic Broadband (the US division of Canadian cable company Cogeco)
Consolidated Fairpoint (more of a Midwestern company)

TV stars with CNY ties

Vanessa L. Williams in a red carpet-ready red dress!  The L is for local!

There is a plethora of household names that have past personal ties to Central New York as it's too easy to start in a big area.  Been meaning to do this.  Here is a list of ones I know:

Kevin James (attended SUNY Cortland)
Al Roker (attended SUNY Oswego)
Peter Falk* (also attended Hamilton College)

Richard Gere (lived in North Syracuse; appeared on the BBCs MotherFatherSon)
Mike Tirico*

Kevin Michael Richardson*

Bobcat Goldthwait (grew up in East Syracuse)

Tom Kenny (same)
David Muir* (born in Syracuse; formerly on CBS 5; now on ABC)
Jerry Seinfeld (attended SUNY Oswego)
Andrew Daly (attended Ithaca College)

Anne Burrell (grew up in Cazenovia)

Ina Garten*
Ricki Lake (also went to IC)
Ann Coulter (went to Cornell across town)
Keith Olbermann (went to Cornells east campus)
Megyn Kelly* (lived in Syracuse, but later lived in Albany County)
Tom Everett Scott* (does TV occasionally)

Edie McClurg*
Debra Wilson*
Jeff Glor* (formerly of NBC 3 WSTM; originally from WNY)
Bob Costas*

Lindsey Vonn*

Marv Albert*
Ted Koppel*
John Walsh (born in Auburn)
Annette Funicello (born in Utica)
Dick Clark*
Taye Diggs*
Jerry Stiller*
Vanessa L. Williams (pictured; was on Ugly Betty, and is now on Daytime Divas, and is the only local legend on both this and the sister blogs post on CNY)*

*SU alumni

NBC 26 WNYD

Had to edit the picture due to Fox/Disney split.

    They say that one thing leads to another, and it always does.  Also, just when you think the entire country is covered, somewhere falls through the cracks.  Someone mentioned getting NBC 7 & 4 from Traverse City which lead me to finding out the resort town of Alpena, MI until recently were in the same boat as fellow Great Lakes city Watertown, NY as far as not having NBC or MyNetworkTV to call their own, making this the next frontier to conquer.  However, I've only been to the Midwest once in my life, so I know even less about there myself than New Yorks North Country which I have been to several times.  Then again, NBC 45's owner are based in southern Georgia, so it's not uncommon for a station owner to be based out of town and/or state as it's not uncommon, even in Roscommon.  The FCC just cares that a licence is paid for and regulations are followed.
    Through a shared sales agreement, cable-only CW 21 WBAE (yes, that's a real station!) could be simulcast on 26.3 as predecessor The WB had cable based affiliates for smaller markets in the past.  One of the little networks like ThisTV could be on 26.4.  Channels 18 and 31 are also available to create new tiers with these newer netlets as the possibilities are almost endless now.  New call letters would have to be found as the ones they had look more like the kind for translators such as W63AE in Oneonta which simulcasted ABC 20 WUTR in Utica back in Upstate NY in analogue days to Otsego County and the northern Catskills, yet these new stations will be over in the Wolverine State, which like much of the Midwest largely lacks elevation which can disrupt signals especially in the elements.  Sky truly is our (if) only limit now.
If there's another lesser known area missing a certain channel based there I'll eventually hear of it and come out of my occasional writers block.  Meanwhile, Alpena sounds like a nice place to visit during the summer, so I could see how it goes there, but that's a story for another day.

UPDATE: The major networks are now on WBKB 11, with CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox and MyNetworkTV together respectively. A real WBAE licenced with the FCC is a radio station in Portland, ME. WNYD is an unused station in the NYC Tri-State (which makes more sense, even though there's more than enough on air there, while Alpena is the polar opposite, with only two DMAs even smaller than them). Now a silent signal registered in Thunder Bay could be revived for the smaller networks, but that would take research for another post.

Smaller networks

The most elusive of them all.

In the past decade or so, new networks like ThisTV, Antenna TV and RTN have cropped up on DTV giving people more choice over the air.  Older generations recall being lucky to have three channels on the dial!  Now they can see the shows they grew up with on most of these netlets.  MeTV and Antenna TV have picked up rights to several classics.  Series shown had reruns aired in syndication and on cable in the past after their network run had ended (yet off-network repeats usually start after Series 4 when there are enough to pad out a cycle to avoid too much repetition in a short span of time).  Some have yet to even appear on DVD, BluRay or streaming (The Golden Girls for example are on a few cable stations and now Hulu, twenty-five years after the original series left NBC and twenty after terrestrial broadcast rights expired in the US).  Other chestnuts had not aired at all in years and are now available for a new generation to enjoy although the ratings for these fledgling networks may be bubbling under in the Nielsens as they are low priority next to the big boys today.
Only Albany, Syracuse (now on WONO 11.2), and Buffalo have a ThisTV affiliate Upstate at this time.  Watertown (45.3), Rochester (36.1), Binghamton (20.2), Elmira (39.2) and Plattsburgh (3.3) have space for it.  In my area, if the existing tiers won't expand for the other networks, a new one could open and could get the old CBS 5 studio in the city or the one for WCNY (PBS) in Galeville (Liverpool).
Decades, H&I, Justice, Newsnet, TBD (an actual network, not an undetermined one; currently in CNY and WNY), Movies! and CoziTV are now in the Syracuse DMA, while Escape, Cheddar, GetTV (on air for a time in CNY but now just on Dish with national feed), The Country Network, Localish,  The Works, Light TV (sister to ThisTV; owned by Byron Allen of Funny You Should Ask), MHz Worldview, Newsmax (also on cable and satellite), Quest, Retro, Rev'n, Stadium, WeatherNeation, World (formerly available through WCNY), and YouToo (which is even older than Fox) all also have yet to reach CNY airwaves, although some may be available on cable and satellite as even Fox had a national feed for small markets yet to catch up with the rest of the country with their own station as recently as over a decade ago, but now these poor mans versions of Nick at Nite/TV Land provide an alternative for those tired of todays headlines, reality shows and reboots yearning for a simpler time.  They do have something for the kids if not what I may have watched in my day to meet FCC E/I programming requirements, even if no one really watches at all.
TheCoolTV is down to just a couple stations despite playing more music videos than MTV, BET, VH1 and MuchMusic for that matter combined as late payment of royalties to station owners if not record companies in addition to people watching them online may as well shut the network down.  The Tube previously had the same thing but could also be seen on cable.  I remember The Box with a 900 number back in the '90s where my43 and AMG are today.
If these newbies have new series it might not work due to their low-man status on the totem pole.  Catalogue or library titles account for much of their budgets as far as royalties, rights and residuals.  Old or new there is more competition than ever in America yet only the front line networks get feedback at the water cooler the next business day as opposed to the old guard from when you used the tap.  Still it's good to have more choice when some parts of the world are lucky to even have the bare essentials.

Mayor Graham's View: WDT: NBC to launch affiliate in Watertown......May Offer News

Mayor Graham's View: WDT: NBC to launch affiliate in Watertown......May Offer News

NBC 45 WVNC

Took me a while to find this official logo.

The wait is over, North Country!  Jefferson County has waited well over three generations for this!  NBC finally have an affiliate to call their own in the border community.  I knew this day would come.  The call letters could stand for Watertown - Viggo (Mortensen of Lord of the Rings franchise fame, who grew up in the area) - North Country.  It's early days right now as they won't even have their own news operation for another year.  Perhaps once the digital tier is established with the FCC, MyNetworkTV could be on 45.3 (sharing space on DT 2) and two other fledgling networks on the other two or more channels (Antenna TV just got DT2 which has MyTV on it).  Spectrum, Verizon FiOs, NewVisions (Tug Hill), Dish and DirecTV would have it replace NBC 3 from my neck of the woods in accordance with the FCCs Must Carry rights unless it's low-power then rights must be sorted out (the local paper still lists WSTM).  Some first-run syndicated series like Celebrity Name Game (until its cancellation) and Wendy are included in the schedule alongside all-new SVU and soon Syracuses very own (ex-FNC) Megyn Kelly (who I call local girl).  I was prompted on Facebook when one asked about Laff to find this after looking at local affiliates for that network.  SagamoreHill Broadcasting from Augusta, GA own the new station and I applaud them for founding it.  WBQZ and WLOT (which could get ThisTV and other lesser known networks) were tied up in legal red tape and it is ironic neither may have considered licencing Americas first network for the St Lawrence corridor up to across from Cornwall, ONT.  As a low-power station, this is probably one of the few stations on this side of the seaway that older TVs can pick up without a converter (the FCCs Canadian counterpart the CRTC in Gatineau, QC have gradually phased out analogue signals in favour of digital in recent years themselves, as I could get CKWS in Kingston, ONT on an old school telly several years ago when it was still a CBC affiliate that are now under rival CTV).  Hopefully Lester Holt gave a shout out as his predecessors have in the past to latter-day franchises.  The late network brass Brandon Tartikoff would be proud that this small town three hundred miles from New York City finally have an NBC station based right in their own backyard. In any case, DT1 will be NBC Watertown and DT2 will be Antenna TV.  No official sites apart from Facebook for the station or owner are available at this time.  If I can find another portable pre-2009 TV at the charity shop I could use it to test for the signal if there's still an analogue channel otherwise it gets nowt and I'm lucky one chain back in town will take it for free.  A pocket model for DTV exists and that would be nice for long road trips and I do make it up I-81 once a year as last time I mentioned to a pensioner on the bus how the Peacock Networks airwaves had yet to grace the northern skies.  Then the other week on a Golden Girls facebook group I bring up their old home and how people would have had to have cable, satellite (when it was mega-dishes) or a strong antenna on the roof just to get NBC 3 or 5 (Plattsburgh and Burlington) when it was still on up to 25 years ago this May.  At least today those who have to have a smaller aerial don't have to miss out anymore (the ladies left syndication two decades ago for cable and lately went on Hulu, taking them off free TV in North America).  Now Alpena, MI across the Great Lakes region from the Thousand Islands can be the Peacock Networks next frontier to conquer with a new affiliate, but I don't know the first thing about that area, so that'll be for another day (maybe even today).

ClearTV review

My own ClearTV antenna in the window.

Put this on eBay but it was too good not to put here too.  Picks up where I left off six months ago:

I bought this as I have an antenna installed upstairs to save on having satellite on all three TVs (lucky there's no such thing as a licence fee in the US like there is in most of the Commonwealth if not EU).  I have the old school aerial on the chimney but it has to be taken off my house soon due to damage and the dish moved over to the roof.  If you're looking to cut the cord you should have this for local programmes at least as not all terrestrial programming is streamed like some cable ones are these days with Amazon Prime, Netflix or Sling.  Much of what I watch is on Fox (FNCs sister) and PBS so this is all I need right now.  My TVs are older so they have converters I bought with FCC-sponsored gift cards when they came out several years ago.  However if you live in an area that doesn't have a network affiliate of its own like one I go to which used to get CBS on cable from my town and another that still does the same with NBC and you're on your own for MyNetworkTV, then maybe this isn't gonna be enough if you wanna watch something that's carried on an out of town station on cable or satellite.  Also even adding the amplifier may not help if you live too far from a TV market or there's nature in the way like hills outside the Midwest and Steppes for that matter.  Also this is more for NTSC DTV and HD signals in North America.  I saw this on TV in an informercial but it's better value for money to order from here and I will get another in the foreseeable future.

The Future of TV: Learn How You Can Protect the Future of Free, Local Television and Keep the News, Emergency Information and HD Programs You Love

The Future of TV: Learn How You Can Protect the Future of Free, Local Television and Keep the News, Emergency Information and HD Programs You Love

YNN: The return?

The name for right now. No relation (anymore) to CNN or HLN.

If Comcast were to buy Time Warner Cable, obviously TWC News would have to change their name.  I mentioned this the other week but it could go even further.  If the name Comcast News Channel isn't brought up maybe Your News Now could be revived as I said before.  Before YNN it was called R News in Monroe County, Capital News 9 in Albany County, and News 10 Now in Onondaga County.  Even those names could come back yet CN9 would probably need a new logo as Bay News 9 in the Tampa Bay/St Petersburg, FL area uses one like it and is now owned by Bright House whose systems were spun off of TWC there and four other states yet keep a CNY office in East Syracuse.  Comcast already have NBC, CNBC and MSNBC.  TWC News may focus on Upstate more yet it loops all day just in case you miss a story.  As YNN the slogan was that it was only on TWC, not FiOS or satellite.  Now it's a given though the new slogan could be, "Only on Comcast, not on fibre optic (NewVisions are available in some CNY communities instead), DTV, satellite or any other provider (TWC as I've said earlier don't have all of Upstate covered north of Greene County)".  Existing Charter systems in areas like Centre County, PA could get their own YNN channel if it comes down to that.  As some towns aren't close enough to the main cities they can otherwise be overlooked for general news stories so regional channels such as RNN in the Hudson Valley can help inform people there.

UPDATE: Merger is off yet one with Charter and Bright House may happen instead which may lead to this or something like it in the weeks to come.  More to come.

UPDATE 2: It has now been confirmed that TWC News will be renamed Spectrum News after all.

TV listings then and now

Not the actual logo but I had the TV Quick one saved and decided to work with that.

TV Guide had launched back in 1953 when people were just starting to buy television sets here in the US.  Newspapers would have listings of their own.  Of course technology changed over the past three generations and counting and then some.  There would be more options and competition.  TV Guide would have a local edition for each cluster market (where I used to live would have one for the local cable system as it was between two markets yet was part of the big one).  The paper would have a poor mans version on Sunday (most still do though mine has been pared down in recent years) which listed what channels were offered in each town.  Many in the '90s provided codes for VCR+ remotes which eased programming the VCR which has now gone the way of the Telex machine thanks to DVD and DVR!  An obscure magazine called Happiness (a cheap cross between Guideposts and Readers Digest that used to be in the free section at the cornershop) even used to have truncated national monthly listings.  Large listings magazines geared towards satellite subscribers were available on newsstands.  On TV there was the Prevue Channel (later TV Guide Channel and now Pop), Zap2It or something else though digital receivers with interactive guides have made the older kind available only on non-digital standard lineups.  As for papers some may not have the listings during the week anymore with the decline of print media when most people can just go online anyway to see what's on.  A lot of them now aren't even in circulation all week long or you have to pick one up yourself like in my area.  Meanwhile, TV Guide about a decade back became a full size magazine and since then only have national listings for print and I stopped buying it as it was no longer what I grew up with, although the local bookshop used to have back issues but I doubt they do today due to a change in ownership and possible lack of interest.  Still Homer Simpson can remember when TV Guide was the few things he ever bothered reading!