# CW HD Locals



## kberk (Oct 3, 2005)

So I have local ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, but CW (formaly WB here) is an HD channel. Comcast has it, when will Dish consider CW HD channels important enough to uplink and broadcast? (Smallville in HD please)

Ironically, I have Comcast basic cable as I use Comcast for internet and it wasn't much extra. The HD OTA in my TV gets CW in HD. The problem with using comcast for CW HD is that my 622 can't record it.

Hmm, I could trying wiring the cable through the HD OTA in the 622, maybe that could get it? Hmmm...


----------



## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

It's my understanding that the 622 will only record the ota Hd. Cable and analog will not be recognized by the tuner.


----------



## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Well... Firstly the CW network has to launch and they haven't done that yet! Hard for Dish to carry a channel that does not yet exist!

Now... with WB and UPN, those did not have enough viewership to qualify in the past... though in most markets (mine included) Dish does have one or both SD channels currently today.

So... the hope is the new CW combined will be big enough to qualify and that Dish is/will be negotiating to carry CWHD in local markets. Considering that Dish has skipped 2 channel numbers in every market LIL HD launched so far... I have every confidence/hope that those spaces are there for PBSHD and CWHD as soon as agreements can be made.

In the meantime... I get all my HD OTA anyway so I've been watching Smallville in HD and will continue to do so next season.

I am confused by your post... are you getting OTA HD? OR HD through Comcast? If you are getting OTA HD I see no reason why your Dish HD receiver couldn't receive the same OTA HD that your TV gets.

If the HD is coming from cable... then I believe you are out of luck in regards to recording with a Dish receiver.


----------



## BillJ (May 5, 2005)

Charlie hinted in the last Chat that E* is interested in carrying CW in HD, at least in larger markets. WGN in Chicago, for example, is almost a major. I wouldn't expect any action until CW is launched though. And even then adding the new channels will probably take a back seat to getting the 4 majors up in more markets. But it's something to look forward to.


----------



## sNEIRBO (Jul 23, 2006)

I noticed this weekend that UPN50 in Detroit changed their logo to CW-50 for all of their advertising.  I don't think that means CW has launched yet, just the locals starting to make the transformation so the public isn't confused when it happens in September. You have to realize that we're all fanatics on these forums, and we stay educated on these subjects. But I'd bet if you asked 100 people on the street what they thought of UPN & WB combining to become CW, they'd just stare back at you like deer in headlights.


----------



## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

According to a program director at my local CW station, it will launch on 9/18/06. It will have only 12 hours a week of prime time programming and the rest of the time it will be filled with old UPN/WB programs, syndicated programs and a LOT of infomercials. He said that most of the prime time programs will be in HD but in my market (Cincinnati), it will be a subchannel of the CBS affiliate so there won't be ANY OTA HD programs on CW in Cincinnati. They are working with the local cable companies to carry the CW in HD (via a fiber feed from the station) but there are no agreements as of now.


----------



## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

kberk said:


> So I have local ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, but CW (formaly WB here) is an HD channel. Comcast has it, when will Dish consider CW HD channels important enough to uplink and broadcast? (Smallville in HD please)


I think a better approach will be to work on CBS to pick up Smallville. Obviously CW has to establish itself before anyone is going to give serious consideration to carrying the HD feed. As a network, CW seems kind of slapped together with only 14 hours of programming a week (3 hours on Friday and Sunday and nothing on Saturday). Without an across-the-board guarantee of substantially more HD content, it seems unlikely that anything more than a few strong affiliates will meet the criteria for carriage.

It would also help them get the message out if their website didn't take _minutes_ to load each Flash-infested page.


----------



## Geronimo (Mar 23, 2002)

harsh said:


> I think a better approach will be to work on CBS to pick up Smallville. Obviously CW has to establish itself before anyone is going to give serious consideration to carrying the HD feed. As a network, CW seems kind of slapped together with only 14 hours of programming a week (3 hours on Friday and Sunday and nothing on Saturday). Without an across-the-board guarantee of substantially more HD content, it seems unlikely that anything more than a few strong affiliates will meet the criteria for carriage.
> 
> It would also help them get the message out if their website didn't take _minutes_ to load each Flash-infested page.


three hours on Friday? Is the wrestling a 3 hour program this fall?

I believe that they also intend to continue the Wb's daytime and Saturday morning programming.


----------



## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Geronimo said:


> three hours on Friday? Is the wrestling a 3 hour program this fall?


It is indeed two hours. I was having a brain bubble.

Lately it does seem a lot like three hours...


----------



## fatalsync (Aug 2, 2006)

Bill R said:


> According to a program director at my local CW station, it will launch on 9/18/06. It will have only 12 hours a week of prime time programming and the rest of the time it will be filled with old UPN/WB programs, syndicated programs and a LOT of infomercials. He said that most of the prime time programs will be in HD but in my market (Cincinnati), it will be a subchannel of the CBS affiliate so there won't be ANY OTA HD programs on CW in Cincinnati. They are working with the local cable companies to carry the CW in HD (via a fiber feed from the station) but there are no agreements as of now.


Same deal here, CW is a subchannel of the CBS affiliate, which means no HD OTA.

Sucks.


----------



## fatalsync (Aug 2, 2006)

harsh said:


> I think a better approach will be to work on CBS to pick up Smallville.


I doubt this is going to happen they're not going to move one of the flagship shows when trying to get the network off the ground.

I'm having flashbacks here...

The whole reason I signed up with Dish Network 6 years ago was because the local cable company stopped carrrying WB and we couldn't live without Buffy and Angel.


----------



## BlackHitachi (Jan 1, 2004)

fatalsync said:


> Same deal here, CW is a subchannel of the CBS affiliate, which means no HD OTA.
> 
> Sucks.


Same for me and yes this really sucks!


----------



## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

BlackHitachi said:


> Same for me and yes this really sucks!


Ditto.. CBS sub-channel here. Should be in service sometime in September.


----------



## sNEIRBO (Jul 23, 2006)

boylehome said:


> Ditto.. CBS sub-channel here. Should be in service sometime in September.


Sub-channel? Do you mean like 62.2 off of an HD-OTA? Do you guys mean in your local area, that CW will not be on it's own channel?

Here in Detroit, the UPN channel (channel 50) and CBS channel (channel 62) are both owned and operated by CBS/Viacom, CW is going to take over Channel 50. UPN-50 is currently being broadcast in HD here in Detroit, I'm not expecting that to change when the channel becomes CW in September.


----------



## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

CBS HD is 12-1. CW will be 12-2. CW will be in SD only.



sNEIRBO said:


> Sub-channel? Do you mean like 62.2 off of an HD-OTA? Do you guys mean in your local area, that CW will not be on it's own channel?


----------



## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

Currently in my dma, WB is sub-channel for fox and is not in HD and we have no UPN. The CW merger and My Network is causing the WB channel to have it's own channel when it becomes a CW (hopefully will be HD) and the current sub-channel with the fox network to be a My Network (doubt will be HD). Guess I should consider my self lucky, but there aren't any independent channels here at all, but at least we have all the major networks in HD at the moment.


----------



## sNEIRBO (Jul 23, 2006)

boylehome said:


> CBS HD is 12-1. CW will be 12-2. CW will be in SD only.


WOW! So people that do not have a digital tuner in your area will not be able to get CW? Will your local cable company be carrying CW?

I guess we're really lucky here in Detroit - we've got all 7 Networks (Fox, NBC, ABC, WB, UPN, PBS & CBS) available in HD off of an OTA.

I remember back in the early 90's, Congress passed a law that said local channels could insist that their channel (or a network feed) be included as part of cable local packages. Does anyone know if that applies to Satellite service as well? Maybe CW can insist that they be included as part of the local packages from E*.


----------



## BlackHitachi (Jan 1, 2004)

Yea here in Medford 10.1 is CBD HD and 10.2 will be CW. Right now we don't have a WB or UPN local's


----------



## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

sNEIRBO said:


> WOW! So people that do not have a digital tuner in your area will not be able to get CW? Will your local cable company be carrying CW?
> 
> I guess we're really lucky here in Detroit - we've got all 7 Networks (Fox, NBC, ABC, WB, UPN, PBS & CBS) available in HD off of an OTA.
> 
> I remember back in the early 90's, Congress passed a law that said local channels could insist that their channel (or a network feed) be included as part of cable local packages. Does anyone know if that applies to Satellite service as well? Maybe CW can insist that they be included as part of the local packages from E*.


Currently the WB has two low power translators atop mountains one in my area another in the Chico area. I would think they will keep them going for analog. I have been told that the CW will not have any HD content. Do you know if this is true?

You are correct in that the station is a must carry and the Cable Co's will have to add digital and/or analog. They are also under multi-casting regulations for whatever that is worth.


----------



## homeskillet (Feb 3, 2004)

All programs originated on "My Network TV" will be in 720p High Definition. The CW will be in High Definition as well. (These, of course, are where available)

In Kansas City the CW is moving to KCWE 29 (Former UPN) and My Network TV is going to KSMO 62 (Former WB) 

In the Topeka, KS market, the CW is going to be a digital sub-channel on KSNT-DT 27.2 and My Network TV will be on WIBW-DT 13.2. This is a step-up from what the market had before with the WB100+ available on very select cable systems, and UPN programming getting jammed into the overnight hours on CBS WIBW.


----------



## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

sNEIRBO said:


> WOW! So people that do not have a digital tuner in your area will not be able to get CW? Will your local cable company be carrying CW?


We have several cable systems in my DMA (Cincinnati) and at least one of them is going to drop the station that was UPN (WBQC) and replace it with the CW (a digital subchannel of the CBS affiliate, WKRC). The largest cable system in the area, Time-Warner, has not announced what they intend to do (they did carry the UPN station {now independent} part-time). My guess is that since Time-Warner has a 50 percent ownership in CW that they will pick it up full time.

As many of you know, CW is partly owned by CBS and that is why, in a lot of markets, it is being carried (as a subchannel) by a CBS affiliate. I really have to question the wisdom of that decision. It seems to me that CBS will lose at least some of their viewers. CW will appeal to a younger audience so maybe that is what CBS is aiming for. Also, for us (who VERY rarely watch a SD channel), it really seems dumb to put it on a subchannel, which, more than likely, will never carry be in HD.


----------



## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

Bill R said:


> ...it really seems dumb to put it on a subchannel, which, more than likely, will never carry be in HD.


Yep, it is dumb. A representative from our CBS affiliate informed me that CW is only providing them with SD content only. I was left with the impression that CW wasn't going to have any HD content. So doing a sub-channel would be no big deal. Now I'm not so sure. It sounds like Homeskillet is going to get CW in HD unless I misunderstood his post.


----------



## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

boylehome said:


> Yep, it is dumb. A representative from our CBS affiliate informed me that CW is only providing them with SD content only. I was left with the impression that CW wasn't going to have any HD content.


CW's prime time lineup will be mostly HD (I got that information from the program director at the station that will will carry CW in our area). He said that they will receive both the SD and HD feed and they are working with the cable companies to carry both feeds (ONLY the SD feed will be broadcast OTA). I think that is is very unlikely that the cable companies here will carry both feeds (bandwidth limitations) since some of them still haven't added all the OTA HD (and SD subchannel) feeds.


----------



## BlackHitachi (Jan 1, 2004)

Well for me i can only hope dishnetwork carry's a HD version. Like others i am finding out its not good for us for the CW to be a sub channel. I don't want to sound like a snob but i have spent alot of money on HD and that's what i want!


----------



## derwin0 (Jan 31, 2005)

Bill R said:


> it really seems dumb to put it on a subchannel, which, more than likely, will never carry be in HD.


Better a subchannel than nochannel at all. 
At least that's how I feel about CBS carrying MNTV as a subchannel. Since there are no available stations to carry it, then better a digital subchannel than not available at all.


----------

