Conference vmszoo::new_hampshire

    
    
    	I don't watch Babylon 5, but I do object to the soon-to-be
    	new owners turning TV50 into another shopping channel.
    
    	I read the same article and I couldn't believe when someone
    	was quoted as saying that they believe they will be bringing
    	in programming that people want and will be happy with.
    
    	Two home shopping channels is plenty enough for me!  I enjoy
    	the programming on CH 50 just the way it is.
    
    	JJ
    

>    	I don't watch Babylon 5, but I do object to the soon-to-be
>    	new owners turning TV50 into another shopping channel.
 
  This sort of thing is happening a lot. My guess is that TV stations are
doing it because it is more profitable than standard programming, and that
the surveys that show people want this are rigged.

You should be able to get B5 on cable - but isn't that Al Kaprelian's station?
No more weather in his inimitable style?

M

    Re .3
    
    Bingo.  Bye-bye, Al.  :-(

    
    
    	I *think* in the article I read, they were still going to
    	have a weather person and Al's name was in parentheses.
    
    	I guess the worker bees at the station feel they're being 
    	dumped and aren't receiving much support or communication from
    	the current owners.  They feel the owners are taking their
    	$18mill and running.
    

    Interestingly enough, a search of the web shows the owners as IND, and 
    from what I can see of the other stations that they own, they are ALL
    shopping channels .... sigh.
    
    That's my nightly line up .... bed by 10, cops, then Judge Judy.  If
    I'm going strong, it's over to 38 to catch Mad About You, and if I
    don't fall asleep by then, I'm in trouble ....
    
    Of course last night's basketball game had me watching Jenny Jones with
    some outrageously LARGE women wearing some outrageously SMALL clothing.
    ...not exactly worth missing the sleep.
    
    Guess I'll have to find something else to occupy my evenings ... (-;
    
    -Patty
    

    Channel 50 is great!  
    
    One of the best local channels I've ever had access to.
    
    We should start a letter writing campaign.  We should get all the cable
    company's around here to send a letter to the new owners that if they
    turn it into a shopping channel it will get removed from all the cable
    systems!
    
    	db

While I too, will miss WNDS-50 and _really_ abhor the introduction of 
yet another shopping channel, I am afraid that a letter writing campaign
would be fruitless.  Cable systems which are within a certain distance
of the station (30 miles? Maybe 35?) are required by the FCC to carry it,
regardless of its content.  This is the so-called "must carry" rule which
is, I think, aimed at protecting local broadcasters from super-stations.

    >This is the so-called "must carry" rule which is, I think, aimed at 
    >protecting local broadcasters from super-stations.
    
    Talk about a perfect example of the old expression 
    
    		"Hoist by one's own petard".
    
    The economics is wonderful though.  Instead of program managers,
    advertisers, sampling (judge judy? Watching that is abuse) etc "Show me
    the money" works perfectly.
    
    And a local channel is lost to the big money.
    
    If there was ever a true role for government this would seem to be one. 

What's the big deal? If you don't like what's on,
don't watch it. 

>>                        -< Babalon-5 is a big deal ... >-

No its not, its just a sci-fi show.  Now Al on the other hand :-)

bjm

> What's the big deal? If you don't like what's on, don't watch it. 
    
    The point is that the objections aren't to "what's on", it's to what
    will "no longer be on" after this happens.
    
    You could have a thousands shopping channels for all I care.
    
    	db

  I got the following from the FCC's Web page.  It talks a bit
about this situation.

  It looks to me like the new WNDS can require local cable
providers to provide the station.  But we do seem to have a
way out, and that is if there is already a lot of the same
thing on the cable system.  In terms of TimeWarner in Nashua,
we already have quite a few Shopping Stations so it might
be possible to get TimeWarner to turn them down.

bill powers
===============================================================================

Q:  The channel line-up on my cable system has changed, some stations are on different
channel numbers, some stations have been dropped and some stations have been added. 
The cable company says that the changes are due to FCC regulations.  What are these
regulations?

A:  The 1992 Cable Act created new rights for television broadcast stations and new
responsibilities for cable operators.  As a result, the new FCC regulations require a cable
operator to get permission from the broadcast station to put the station on cable.  A local
broadcast station may give permission by choosing mandatory carriage (must-carry) on the
cable system, or by negotiating an agreement for carriage of its signal by the cable company
(retransmission consent).  A broadcast station which chooses retransmission consent may
request some form of payment for the use of its broadcast signal on the cable system, and
must negotiate for both its carriage on that system and its channel position.  A broadcast
station choosing must-carry can generally select (from a set of limited options) its channel
position. 

A cable operator must set aside up to a maximum of one-third of its channel capacity for
local commercial television stations.  A cable operator is not required to carry stations
that
show mostly the same programming.  Therefore, many stations which were not carried
previously suddenly may have become eligible for carriage on your cable system, and many
stations which had previously been carried may no longer be available.

If a particular station was dropped by your cable system, it may be due to one of the
following reasons: the station did not deliver a good quality signal; the station and cable
operator failed to reach agreement on a payment to the station to permit the cable company to
carry the station; the cable system may have chosen not to pay copyright royalties for the
station; or the station was dropped to provide room for other services which the cable
operator decided to offer.  If you are dissatisfied with  the channels being provided by your
cable system, you should contact the cable company.

    <<< Note 3645.14 by TLE::POWERS "Bill Powers ZKO2-3/N30 DTN381-2857" >>> 


  I got the following from the FCC's Web page.  It talks a bit about this
situation. 

  It looks to me like the new WNDS can require local cable providers to provide
the station.  But we do seem to have a way out, and that is if there is already
a lot of the same thing on the cable system.  In terms of TimeWarner in Nashua,
we already have quite a few Shopping Stations so it might be possible to get
TimeWarner to turn them down. 

bill powers
===============================================================================

Q:  The channel line-up on my cable system has changed, some stations are on
different channel numbers, some stations have been dropped and some stations
have been added. The cable company says that the changes are due to FCC
regulations.  What are these regulations? 

A:  The 1992 Cable Act created new rights for television broadcast stations and
new responsibilities for cable operators.  As a result, the new FCC regulations
require a cable operator to get permission from the broadcast station to put
the station on cable.  A local broadcast station may give permission by
choosing mandatory carriage (must-carry) on the cable system, or by negotiating
an agreement for carriage of its signal by the cable company (retransmission
consent).  A broadcast station which chooses retransmission consent may request
some form of payment for the use of its broadcast signal on the cable system,
and must negotiate for both its carriage on that system and its channel
position.  A broadcast station choosing must-carry can generally select (from a
set of limited options) its channel position. 

A cable operator must set aside up to a maximum of one-third of its channel
capacity for local commercial television stations.  A cable operator is not
required to carry stations that show mostly the same programming.  Therefore,
many stations which were not carried previously suddenly may have become
eligible for carriage on your cable system, and many stations which had
previously been carried may no longer be available. 

If a particular station was dropped by your cable system, it may be due to one
of the following reasons: the station did not deliver a good quality signal;
the station and cable operator failed to reach agreement on a payment to the
station to permit the cable company to carry the station; the cable system may
have chosen not to pay copyright royalties for the station; or the station was
dropped to provide room for other services which the cable operator decided to
offer.  If you are dissatisfied with  the channels being provided by your cable
system, you should contact the cable company. 

Re: .15

>It looks to me like the new WNDS can require local cable providers to provide
>the station.  But we do seem to have a way out, and that is if there is
>already a lot of the same thing on the cable system.  In terms of TimeWarner
>in Nashua, we already have quite a few Shopping Stations so it might be
>possible to get TimeWarner to turn them down. 

As much as I would like to agree with you (and I really would), I would 
interpret "mostly the same programming" as identical programming, not
similar types of programming.  That is, two independent shopping channels
would not fall under this clause, but two channels both carrying QVC would.
There are several instances of repeater stations throughout the country,
and I can see that it would be beneficial to the consumer to _not_ have
to have the cable network carry them all.

That said, I too, am saddened by the passing of WNDS into the home
shopping realm and I wish it weren't happening.  Unfortunately it is, and
I can't see anything that I can do about it.

We are able to program our tv & remote control so that we can exclude
stations from showing up as you click the forward or back arrow on the
remote. We have ours set to exclude all the shopping channels. I'm not
a Babylon 5 fan, but I really dislike the current proliferation of junk 
television such as the shopping shows. As soon as 50 become one, we will
update our remote to bypass it.

Leslie

    	Well, if you Babylon 5 fans start missing it too much, I'll do you
    a favor and go stand outside in a stiff wind. My hair will stand
    straight up, and for a split second, you'll swear I'm one of the
    Centauri.
    	I'll miss the weather with Al. He's been my role model...my
    inspiration...my reason for living...

    .yha must mean Al Quitsqueelin! Why ol Al could go to WMUR and drive us
    nuts!:) 

>    	I'll miss the weather with Al. He's been my role model...my
>    inspiration...my reason for living...
    
    Steve, I'm beginning to think that this change might actually end up 
    being  a good/healthy thing for you.
    
    ;-)

Steve:

>    	Well, if you Babylon 5 fans start missing it too much, I'll do you
>    a favor and go stand outside in a stiff wind. My hair will stand
>    straight up, and for a split second, you'll swear I'm one of the
>    Centauri.

   But your hair is too short. You have to let it grow for a couple of
years.  Otherwise you will look like a commoner.  The length indicates
your status in society. Now who volunteers to grow a bone out their head 
like the Minbari?  :-)

   I called TimeWarner cable to find out what they had planned to do
about the switch if anything.  The person answering the phone said
they hadn't decided yet and told be to call back closer to the switch
time.

Bill Powers (A B5 Fan)

	Well, if you don't already know it, it's official. Went to watch the
	Simpsons last night only to find yet another silly shopping channel.
	What a waste.

Larry

    
    
    
    	joy.
    

And I missed Al's last "Good eeeeeevinggggg" - damn I knew I should have
setup the VCR :-)

    Al looked kinda sad the last week.  I didn't see any good eeeevinggg s
    of late.

I think the only thing I'll really miss on the WNDS is the Morning Business
Report, and of course Al. Does anyone know of another channel that carries the
MBR program?

Fwiw, I think Al was much less animated recently. The reports I saw never began
with his trademarked "good eeevning" squeak. With Willard Scott and Al Roker
making big names for themselves, I always thought there were bigger things ahead
for Al...or maybe he was way ahead of his time...

-Jeff

    So far every TV station that has tried to start up in NH (except for
    channel 9 and 11) has failed.  Station in Concord a few years ago - gone,
    Channel 60 in Merrimack - an infomercial station, channel 50 ....
    
    So one more reason for my satellite dish. Now if everyone in the
    area with DirecTV would email or write them to put on Channel 38 ....
    They just added WGN from Chicago, and it's not as good as 38.
    Unless you like Chicago baseball...  Really bad when Atlanta is
    playing Chicago  -you get the game on TBS as well....
    
    Also complain about the new rates, found that complaining about
    anything to them gets you free movie tickets.  Complained about
    them dropping the travel station awhile ago, (never had watched it)
    
    got 6 free movie tickets.....

    My mother has heard (I dunno her source) that because of the amount of
    complaints channel 50 received, some of the shows are being reinstated
    and it'll be homeshopping the rest of the time. The bowling was one of
    them, but she is a bowling fan and it may be wishful thinking.
    Hopefully B5 and Highlander will be back. Mom also likes the Cape. So
    maybe. Dunno what else may be back, if anything.
    
    Bright Blessings,
    
    PJ

    
    
    	Speaking of free movie tickets (I may be ratholing here)...
    	I got a pair of movie passes for General Cinemas in the mail
    	last week.  I have no idea why!  I didn't purchase them 
    	the EAC and I didn't buy them from anyone.  They came from
    	Minnesota addressed to Digital and me and were mailed to
    	my previous home address.
    
    	Anyone else get free tickets without knowing why?
    
    	JJ
    

    re:
>        <<< Note 3645.28 by WMOIS::CONNELL "No one noticed the cat." >>>
>
>    My mother has heard (I dunno her source) that because of the amount of
>    complaints channel 50 received, some of the shows are being reinstated
>    and it'll be homeshopping the rest of the time. The bowling was one of
>    them, but she is a bowling fan and it may be wishful thinking.
>    Hopefully B5 and Highlander will be back. Mom also likes the Cape. So
>    maybe. Dunno what else may be back, if anything.
    
    Your mother is correct.  A couple of times over the weekend while
    surfing the channels, I hit ch 50 during the time slot when bowling
    used to be on.  They were running a subtitle/banner saying that they
    were trying to re-instate bowling and please be patient.  So, all you
    B5, Cape, Highlander, STNG fans, maybe enough complaints will get your
    fave-rave show back on.
    
    Ch 50's home shopping shows really are second-rate.  8^(

    	This is where the Web would come in handy if WNDS had a home page.
    If they do, I couldn't find it :-(
    
    	Ray

    They had a home page at http://www.wnds.com/, but every time I accessed
    it I got something about the person who had been hired to construct it
    being out of town or kidnapped by UFOs or something, and it never had
    anything useful.
    
    There is also a www.wmur.com for Channel 9, www.whdh.com for 5 in
    Boston, etc.  Many stations can be found by their call sign.
    
    Now that 50 is shopping and I don't really get any of the Boston UHF
    stations off the air (I'm in Nashua and I get 19 from Adams better than
    any Boston station) I too am without Star Trek and Babylon 5.  I am
    also hoping WSBK gets added to the DSS line-up.  I tried an antenna in
    the attic, but very strong signals from 50 and 60 cause problems trying
    to get the Boston stations, especially on 56.  I haven't tried building
    traps to eliminate those channels yet, but that will probably come
    next.
    
    I'm also annoyed by that local broadcaster on 13 that makes it
    impossible to get 13 from Maine.  Why do they need both 13 and 33?  And
    does anybody ever watch them?
    

  WSBK is on the Dish Network, which is another Direct Satelite
Broadcaster like DirectTV.

bill powers