KWTV News 9 on a decline.

[Zuplar]

FXX Evo: Ferrari's fastest vehicle to date, with a top speed of over 249 mph. It can go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds.

2021 Tesla Model S Plaid 200 MPH 0 to 60 in 2.3 seconds ..

I was also confused by the example, lol. My first thought was okay so they got something faster and quieter.

[scottk]

In regards to the helicopter, I think it is impressive that all three stations have their own and fly them often. Severe weather coverage as many know is supreme in OKC. I am guessing the decision was made to cut fuel costs or similar in swapping out the equipment.

I believe Denver and Dallas TV markets only have one helicopter that is shared among all the stations for feeds? Someone with more knowledge, let me know if that is incorrect.

[Bunty]

It's interesting that KWTV-9 still hasn't upgraded to ATSC 3.0. Neither has its sister station KOTV-6 Tulsa. Both are CBS affiliates. So, I wonder if it has to do with CBS not doing much to encourage its affiliates to upgrade to ATSC 3.0. I think it's important for TV stations to adopt to ATSC 3.0. Among other things, the new technology enables signals to get out somewhat further under the same power as ATSC 1.0. OTA TV needs to improve its reception outreach and quality to better compete with online wireless.

Unlike CBS, NBC is doing the most for its ATSC 3.0 adoptees. NBC enabled KFOR to broadcast the Olympics and other programs in 1080p along with HDR for those who had the tuner for it. The four other ATSC 3.0 stations in OKC aren't yet offering HDR to go with 1080p.

[kukblue1]

Storme has been let go now also.

[scottk]

It's interesting that KWTV-9 still hasn't upgraded to ATSC 3.0. Neither has its sister station KOTV-6 Tulsa. Both are CBS affiliates. So, I wonder if it has to do with CBS not doing much to encourage its affiliates to upgrade to ATSC 3.0. I think it's important for TV stations to adopt to ATSC 3.0. Among other things, the new technology enables signals to get out somewhat further under the same power as ATSC 1.0. OTA TV needs to improve its reception outreach and quality to better compete with online wireless.

Unlike CBS, NBC is doing the most for its ATSC 3.0 adoptees. NBC enabled KFOR to broadcast the Olympics and other programs in 1080p along with HDR for those who had the tuner for it. The four other ATSC 3.0 stations in OKC aren't yet offering HDR to go with 1080p.

If you were to walk into Best Buy, Costco, etc...don't most if not 95 percent of TV's still come standard with ATSC 1.0 tuners for Over-The-Air?

In other words, until it is mandated to put the ATSC 3.0 tuners into all TV's being sold like was done with the analog to digital conversion, what would be the benefit for a station like KWTV to upgrade if most of their viewers are stuck with 1.0 tuners?

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Storme has been let go now also.

Seriously? That’s a shocker. He’s got a bright future ahead of him. I can’t believe they would let that kind of young talent get away. He won’t be unemployed long. Was it cost cutting or is it something else?

[scottk]

Storme Jones released a statement on his personal facebook page:

"News9 and I had some fundamental differences on values this week. I asked to be released from my contract and they agreed."

You can read the full statement: https://www.facebook.com/storme.jones

[Bunty]

If you were to walk into Best Buy, Costco, etc...don't most if not 95 percent of TV's still come standard with ATSC 1.0 tuners for Over-The-Air?

In other words, until it is mandated to put the ATSC 3.0 tuners into all TV's being sold like was done with the analog to digital conversion, what would be the benefit for a station like KWTV to upgrade if most of their viewers are stuck with 1.0 tuners?

Most likely 100%, not 95%.

So, what do you think has been the benefit of KOCO, KFOR, KOKH, KOCB and KAUT to upgrade to ATSC 3.0? They were among the first stations in the country to do it about 4 years ago. After all, NBC offering its ATSC 3.0 affiliates coverage of the Olympics in 1080p and HDR was, while there, not a dramatic looking step up in video quality.

[OKCexpat]

ATSC 3.0 is going through a lot of problems. One large one was when a tech company that had some patents (but wasn't part of the consortium pooling their ATSC 3 patents) sued LG and won a 1.6 million infringement lawsuit. LG dropped ATSC 3.0 tuners on most of their product line. Other manufacturers are likely looking over their shoulders.

Then there is the DRM (Digital Rights Management) encryption issue. In many markets (OKC isn't one...yet) the local stations are activating encryption and many tuners which aren't properly "certified" (a process reported to cost six-figures) can't pick up the local stations. The FCC has been taking a hands-off approach to "let the marketplace work", but they have been receiving a lot of blow-back from citizens concerned about the signals on public airwaves being encrypted.

Because of the encryption, it appears that many/most devices will require an internet connection to at LEAST get a decryption authorization "bump" when initially installed by the consumer.

There are many forces in play here....broadcasters, patent holders (and the patent pool), manufacturers, the public, the government....and things are becoming messier as time goes on. I've been following several guys on the 'net that are solid reporters on the situation without a particular axe to grind. One just posted this today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNZMLMKE61A

Another blogger who's been covering this is Lon TV (who also covers many other techie topics).

https://www.youtube.com/@LonSeidman/videos

Perhaps this is too much of a veer from KWTV and should be it's own thread? shrug.

[Bunty]

Thank you. Then I wouldn't be surprised that KWTV and other Oklahoma TV stations are waiting for the legal issues to settle down over ATSC 3.0 before adopting it. I think LG's loss from its lawsuit is still under appeal.

If one is using HDHomerun Flex 4k, it cannot decode the ATSC 3.0 signals of KOCO and KFOR, due to their use of DRM. Other brand boxes are certified to decode it.

So many people are willing to pay for streaming, including for local OTA. I won't be surprised if broadcasters will want to use ATSC 3.0 to offer pay football and other sports in 4k and HDR. Who wants to pay to watch OU play TX in 4k and HDR?

[scottk]

Thank you. Then I wouldn't be surprised that KWTV and other Oklahoma TV stations are waiting for the legal issues to settle down over ATSC 3.0 before adopting it. I think LG's loss from its lawsuit is still under appeal.

If one is using HDHomerun Flex 4k, it cannot decode the ATSC 3.0 signals of KOCO and KFOR, due to their use of DRM. Other brand boxes are certified to decode it.

So many people are willing to pay for streaming, including for local OTA. I won't be surprised if broadcasters will want to use ATSC 3.0 to offer pay football and other sports in 4k and HDR. Who wants to pay to watch OU play TX in 4k and HDR?

I guess I did not realize the encryption that could be done with ATSC 3.0. For something like OU/Texas on a network like ABC, a pay-per-view model kinda defeats the whole purpose of "Free Over-The-Air" television.

[OKCexpat]

As a tech nerd <g> I've been kinda following the entire ATSC 3.0 rollout. It doesn't affect me...I own only ATSC 1.0 equipment and the broadcasters in my area aren't encrypting 3.0....yet.

I could go down deep rabbit holes about the craziness going on behind the corporate broadcast scene regarding this, but "I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader". <g>

AFAIK, Bunty is correct re. the patent lawsuit involving LG is on appeal. @Bunty, I didn't realize that KFOR and KOCO were encrypting. I guess Rabbitears.info has outdated info. This listing is in order of market size, so you need to scroll down to 50 for OKC:

https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=atsc3

On a broader note, the Big Time Station groups (Sinclair...KOKH, KOCB...Nexstar...KFOR, KAUT) and others are reporting same or more income from carriage/retransmission fees than advertising. Carriage/retransmission dollars come from cable, satellite, streaming, etc. companies which are charged a per subscriber fee to carry the station(s).

IMHO, the OTA broadcasters plan to go to a purely subscriber-based model via DRM encryption. At the least, they want to disable common user functions such as program pause/fast forward-rewind and ad skipping.

So much for licensees of the public airwaves serving the public interest.....

OK...that's getting into politics which is (rightly!) unwelcome on OKCtalk.

/Soapbox off

[OKCexpat]

Lon.tv posted an update today about the ATSC 3.0 slow motion trainwreck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iui17NXQwdo

One other little known fact about the transmission changes is the use of "light house" transmitters and towers. One facility has to support multiple stations in most markets because of lack of UHF channels after the government auctions of the once-available frequencies to cellular phone companies.

IN OKC, the KAUT/KFOR transmitter and tower support all the other stations. Lots of eggs in one basket.

Perhaps KWTV is watching all this and might build their own separate facility?

[scottk]

Perhaps KWTV is watching all this and might build their own separate facility?

Sorry if I misunderstand your post, but didn't KWTV purposely tear down their "World's Tallest Video" tower at Kelly and Wilshire as it reached "end of life" and move (rent space) to the large tower at Kilpatrick and Broadway Extension that a large number of TV and radio stations in OKC are already on?

[OKCexpat]

Yes, KWTV is a "tenant" on the tower at Kilpatrick and near Eastern. However, if you look up KAUT here:

https://www.rabbitears.info/market.p...&callsign=kaut

and scroll down a bit to the yellow highlighted block, click on "technical data" and you can click on the latitude and longitude for maps of the tower/transmitter location. Two tower locations are shown. One North of Britton and the other south of Britton, both between Kelley and Eastern. I believe the one north of Britton handles the new ATSC 3.0 transmissions for channel 19 with KFOR/KOCO/KOKH/KOCB/KAUT. I think the other handled various ATSC 1.0 stations and whatever. I may have the two flipped but I think that is correct.

Regardless, all those new ATSC 3.0 facilities are handled with one tower facility....hence my remark about "eggs in one basket". It appears that new facilites are having to be built all over the country because one tower can "hold" only so many transmission antennas.

Perhaps KWTV can add new 3.0 facilities to the candelabra by Kilpatrick if the tower is not already maxed out. I would ask an engineer friend of mine in OKC who was totally in the loop, but he died several years ago.

[PhiAlpha]

I love the helicopter reporting, but I don't think it will be a noticeable difference for the average person watching. I'm guessing response time to anything in the metro might be 5 minutes slower to begin coverage. After that , I can't imagine anything on the ground is going to outrun a helicopter. Storm coverage has become almost exclusively the weather anchor in studio shifting from radar to different storm chasers.

And if it saves over $100,000 per year (I have no real knowledge of the number, but would think it has to be at least that much to make it worthwhile), I would have to think it helps morale, rather than hurts.

Seems like it would be way easier to do all of that via drone, especially storm coverage.

[PhiAlpha]

Storme has been let go now also.

I can’t put my finger on it but there’s something I really don’t like about that guy.

[bamarsha]

Seems like it would be way easier to do all of that via drone, especially storm coverage.

Pete - New challenge, storm coverage! How long would your drove survive a storm?

[Bunty]

I can’t put my finger on it but there’s something I really don’t like about that guy.

I think he was the one who covered the protest at the OKC police station in 2020 and was with the protesters. He had to run for it along with the protesters whenever tear gas was launched or whatever it was. I thought it was interesting to watch.

[scottk]

Pete - New challenge, storm coverage! How long would your drove survive a storm?

Drone coverage is great for quick images and video AFTER a storm has passed. However, following a storm in real time doesn't seem feasible at this point. Certain commercial drones are fast (over 150 mph) but I don't know how realistic it would be for a ground crew to be piloting it following a storm over a wide area or for hours on end. Battery life and FAA regulations also would be a factor.

[TornadoKegan]

KOCO is using the same music on their commercials that KWTV uses on their 9AM Newscast Intro

[TornadoKegan]

KWTV has seemed to oversimplified their graphics for the weather segment

[TornadoKegan]

Edit. They have seemed to oversimplify their whole brand

[scottk]

Here's the "newer" new studio to replace the "older" new studio from when they moved downtown less than two years ago.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/xp21gL6ebKU57S7T/

[MagzOK]

I think it looks great. I love the new weather graphics.