CHCH TV suspends newscasts as company declares bankruptcy

[mvcg66b3r]

Beginning of the end of local TV in Hamilton/Halton/Niagara?

News staff at CHCH TV have learned their company is bankrupt and they will not be airing newscasts tonight and over the weekend.

Channel Zero chair Romen Podzyhun went on the air at 4 p.m. to tell viewers that local news would return on Monday. He did not detail what changes would be happening.

"This new reality put us in an untenable situation and as a result, in order to ensure the continued broadcast of CHCH, we've made some significant changes to our programming schedule," he said. "Decisions like these are hard because they impact the personal lives of so many colleagues we care deeply."

As he was speaking, staff received an email telling them their employer, Channel 11 L.P. has declared bankruptcy, effective today.

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/6180588-update-chch-tv-suspends-newscasts-as-company-declares-bankruptcy/

[Hudsons81]

Ain't the Hamilton/Halton/Niagara market still separate from Toronto or has it since been collapsed? That situation reminds me of how there was once a separate market for Akron/Canton in Ohio before it was collapsed into the Cleveland market, yet that market, as a side effect, ended up with two separate ABC affiliates, one of which is now an Ion O&O.

[TheFugitive]

Ain't the Hamilton/Halton/Niagara market still separate from Toronto or has it since been collapsed? That situation reminds me of how there was once a separate market for Akron/Canton in Ohio before it was collapsed into the Cleveland market, yet that market, as a side effect, ended up with two separate ABC affiliates, one of which is now an Ion O&O.

Then how can the Wheeling/Steubenville market continue to exist?  It's less than an hour's
drive from Pittsburgh and is one of the biggest population losers in the entire US over the past four decades.

Bummer about CHCH.  I remember watching them when I was a kid in the 70's and
my parents would rent a cabin on Lake Erie northeast of Erie, PA.  They put a really strong
signal into that area.  My first intro to Canadian TV.

[Hudsons81]

Ain't the Hamilton/Halton/Niagara market still separate from Toronto or has it since been collapsed? That situation reminds me of how there was once a separate market for Akron/Canton in Ohio before it was collapsed into the Cleveland market, yet that market, as a side effect, ended up with two separate ABC affiliates, one of which is now an Ion O&O.

Then how can the Wheeling/Steubenville market continue to exist?  It's less than an hour's
drive from Pittsburgh and is one of the biggest population losers in the entire US over the past four decades.

Bummer about CHCH.  I remember watching them when I was a kid in the 70's and
my parents would rent a cabin on Lake Erie northeast of Erie, PA.  They put a really strong
signal into that area.  My first intro to Canadian TV.

A very interesting case is the Baltimore market, which actually exists even though it's only 40 straight miles from Washington, DC.

Ohio itself still has two of these cases. Dayton has a separate market even though Cincinnati is an hour away. Toledo is it's own market even though the Detroit stations put signals into that market strong enough to be carried on Buckeye Cablesystem.

[ynkeesfn82]

A very interesting case is the Baltimore market, which actually exists even though it's only 40 straight miles from Washington, DC

There's also the Springfield, Massachusetts market which is about the same distance from Hartford, Connecticut. Springfield used to have 3 channels - WWLP Channel 22 NBC, WGGB Channel 40 ABC, and WGBY PBS Channel 57. For CBS they had to rely on WFSB Channel 3 from Hartford and for FOX WTIC-TV Channel 61 from Hartford. WFSB eventually bought a low-power TV station in Springfield from the TBN religious network upgraded it and launched it as a CBS affiliate for Springfield. It was a semi-satellite of WFSB. WSHM-LP aka CBS 3 Springfield. Then with the advent of digital TV Springfield got FOX via WGGB Channel 40.2 and it 2015 it got The CW via WWLP Channel 22.2

Springfield, MA TV Stations:

21.1 WSHM-CD CBS
21.2 COZI

22.1 WWLP NBC
22.2 CW
22.3 ION

28.1 WFXQ-CD NBC (Simulcasts WWLP)
28.2 CW
28.3 ION

40.1 WGGB ABC
40.2 FOX

43.1 WHTX-CD Univision (Simulcasts WUVN Hartford)
43.2 WHTX-CD
43.3 UniMas (Simulcasts WUTH-CD Hartford)
43.4 LaTV

51.1 WDMR-CD Telemundo (Simulcasts WRDM-CD Hartford)

57.1 WGBY PBS
57.2 PBS World
57.3 PBS Kids
57.4 PBS Create

[Hudsons81]

A very interesting case is the Baltimore market, which actually exists even though it's only 40 straight miles from Washington, DC

There's also the Springfield, Massachusetts market which is about the same distance from Hartford, Connecticut. Springfield used to have 3 channels - WWLP Channel 22 NBC, WGGB Channel 40 ABC, and WGBY PBS Channel 57. For CBS they had to rely on WFSB Channel 3 from Hartford and for FOX WTIC-TV Channel 61 from Hartford. WFSB eventually bought a low-power TV station in Springfield from the TBN religious network upgraded it and launched it as a CBS affiliate for Springfield. It was a semi-satellite of WFSB. WSHM-LP aka CBS 3 Springfield. Then with the advent of digital TV Springfield got FOX via WGGB Channel 40.2 and it 2015 it got The CW via WWLP Channel 22.2

Springfield, MA TV Stations:

21.1 WSHM-CD CBS
21.2 COZI

22.1 WWLP NBC
22.2 CW
22.3 ION

28.1 WFXQ-CD NBC (Simulcasts WWLP)
28.2 CW
28.3 ION

40.1 WGGB ABC
40.2 FOX

43.1 WHTX-CD Univision (Simulcasts WUVN Hartford)
43.2 WHTX-CD
43.3 UniMas (Simulcasts WUTH-CD Hartford)
43.4 LaTV

51.1 WDMR-CD Telemundo (Simulcasts WRDM-CD Hartford)

57.1 WGBY PBS
57.2 PBS World
57.3 PBS Kids
57.4 PBS Create

Toledo is it's own market even though the Detroit stations put signals into that market strong enough to be carried on Buckeye Cablesystem.

Speaking of which...Toledo is indeed very interesting.

During the 1950's they had just one channel - WSPD-TV Channel 13, which had to shoehorn in programming from the Big Three, it was however a primary NBC affiliate as it's sister radio station was itself a longtime NBC Radio affiliate. In 1955 the primary affiliation changed to CBS due to strong ties between CBS and channel 13's original owner Storer Broadcasting. After WTOL Channel 11 signed on in 1958, channel 13 just had to deal with NBC and ABC.

When the next station, WDHO-TV Channel 24 signed on in the 1960's many thought it would become an affiliate of either NBC or ABC (eventually it did, first with ABC and then with NBC) but instead it signed on as, of all things, the flagship of the very-short-lived United Network. No additional VHF full-power stations could go on the air in Toledo as it was hemmed in between Detroit (2, 4, 7, 9) to the north, Lansing (6, 10) to the northwest and Cleveland (3, 5, 8 ) to the east.

Many years later in 1985 WUPW Channel 36 signed on as an independent and a year later by default became a founding Fox affiliate. When UPN and The WB came around UPN ended up on WNGT-LP Channel 48 while Toledo residents had to rely on a cable-only channel for The WB. When both networks merged into The CW it was still cable-only. It wasn't until 2014 (and as a result of the advent of digital TV) that the CW became available over-the-air through WTVG (as WSPD is now called) 13.2, replacing the Live Well Network, which itself shut down completely this year.

Toledo, OH TV:

11.1 WTOL (CBS)
11.2 Me TV
11.3 Grit

13.1 WTVG (ABC)
13.2 The CW
13.3 Weathernation

22 WFND-LD (Youtoo America)

23 W38DH

24.1 WNWO (NBC)
24.2 Retro TV
24.3 Comet

27.1 WBGU (PBS)
27.2 PBS Kids
27.3 PBS Encore
27.4 Create

30.1 WGTE (PBS)
30.2 PBS Encore (branded as WGTE Family)
30.2 Create

36.1 WUPW (Fox)
36.2 Bounce TV
36.3 Escape

40 WLMB (religious independent)

48.1 WMNT-CD (My Network TV)
48.2 Mundomax (becomes Antenna TV on January 1, 2016)
48.3 This TV
48.4 Cozi TV

68 WDJT-LD (Daystar)

[BillyGr]

Speaking of which...Toledo is indeed very interesting.

During the 1950's they had just one channel - WSPD-TV Channel 13, which had to shoehorn in programming from the Big Three, it was however a primary NBC affiliate as it's sister radio station was itself a longtime NBC Radio affiliate. In 1955 the primary affiliation changed to CBS due to strong ties between CBS and channel 13's original owner Storer Broadcasting. After WTOL Channel 11 signed on in 1958, channel 13 just had to deal with NBC and ABC.

When the next station, WDHO-TV Channel 24 signed on in the 1960's many thought it would become an affiliate of either NBC or ABC (eventually it did, first with ABC and then with NBC) but instead it signed on as, of all things, the flagship of the very-short-lived United Network. No additional VHF full-power stations could go on the air in Toledo as it was hemmed in between Detroit (2, 4, 7, 9) to the north, Lansing (6, 10) to the northwest and Cleveland (3, 5, 8 ) to the east.

I assume it's also impossible to have three stations numbered consecutively (or at least was before digital)?  Since there is no 12 in your sequence, but had they used that it would have been 11, 12 and 13.

Although one wonders if they could have negotiated with, say channel 9 to switch to 12 then they could have had 9, 11 and 13?

[Hudsons81]

Speaking of which...Toledo is indeed very interesting.

During the 1950's they had just one channel - WSPD-TV Channel 13, which had to shoehorn in programming from the Big Three, it was however a primary NBC affiliate as it's sister radio station was itself a longtime NBC Radio affiliate. In 1955 the primary affiliation changed to CBS due to strong ties between CBS and channel 13's original owner Storer Broadcasting. After WTOL Channel 11 signed on in 1958, channel 13 just had to deal with NBC and ABC.

When the next station, WDHO-TV Channel 24 signed on in the 1960's many thought it would become an affiliate of either NBC or ABC (eventually it did, first with ABC and then with NBC) but instead it signed on as, of all things, the flagship of the very-short-lived United Network. No additional VHF full-power stations could go on the air in Toledo as it was hemmed in between Detroit (2, 4, 7, 9) to the north, Lansing (6, 10) to the northwest and Cleveland (3, 5, 8 ) to the east.

I assume it's also impossible to have three stations numbered consecutively (or at least was before digital)?  Since there is no 12 in your sequence, but had they used that it would have been 11, 12 and 13.

Although one wonders if they could have negotiated with, say channel 9 to switch to 12 then they could have had 9, 11 and 13?

That would've caused interference with WJRT Channel 12 in Flint. In fact, Goodwill Station had originally wanted channel 12 to serve both the Detroit and Flint markets from a transmitter near Clarkston, Michigan, but the FCC denied that and they decided to set the transmitter up in Chesaning (a small town somewhere between Flint and Saginaw).

[TheFugitive]

Regarding adjacent channel interference, it is true that the FCC would not typically assign two channels
right next to each other in the same market (a key exception being WNBC-4 and WNYW-5 in New York,
which I have never been able to figure out).

However, it would be possible to have channels 6 and 7 as adjacent, since even though they are in numerical sequence there is actually a gap of close to 100 MHz between them.  (the entire FM band lies within this gap, among other things).

When I lived in Hillsdale, Michigan, if I was watching on an antenna WTVG from Toledo and WZZM in Grand Rapids, both on Channel 13, would frequently interfere with one another.   At the time WTVG was an NBC station, with WNWO holding the ABC affiliation.

[Hudsons81]

Regarding adjacent channel interference, it is true that the FCC would not typically assign two channels
right next to each other in the same market (a key exception being WNBC-4 and WNYW-5 in New York,
which I have never been able to figure out).

The channel 4-channel 5 pairing also exists in Los Angeles, Saint Louis; Washington, DC; and a few other places. There's even an instance with American WIVB 4 and Canadian CBLT 5 in Buffalo/Toronto.

Chicago, however, didn't end up with this pairing, as Milwaukee ended up with the channel 4 designation.