Some people have asked us why closed captioning of our local news doesn't include captions of live field reports, breaking news, etc. The reason is rooted in our very small market size. Palm Springs is market 144, and small-market stations are not required to provide real-time captioning of their local newscasts. We do provide newsroom captioning, which translates the scripts from our broadcasts into closed captions. Since live shots are unscripted, our captioning system can't translate what's said into captions. The very largest markets such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, are required to completely caption their news broadcasts. They have the financial resources to hire the highly trained staff needed to do this, or they are paying an outside contractor to do it for them. Small market stations are exempt because they can't afford to pay the considerable expense of live news captioning.
Virtually all other forms of our programming, such as syndicated and network shows, are now captioned. There is an exception for foreign language programming, but that exception will sunset in a few years. Our Telemundo affiliate, KUNA-TV, offers the same news captioning as KESQ and KDFX, and the network provides closed captions for all other programming except news.
And finally, all emergency information including EAS alerts are provided in a form recognizable by the hearing impraired. Usually it's a and on-screen crawl or a graphic, displayed either full-screen or on a screen behind a weather or news person.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
DirecTV Picture Quality
I received an e-mail from a viewer complaining about poor picture quality of the KDFX signal on DirecTV's satellite service. I took a look at the signal and indeed it often broke into pixels, an indication of some kind of technical problem.
The issue is not KDFX's signal. It's the same signal we put out over the air on analog and digital TV, and which we send to the cable company. Actually the problem occurs in the DirecTV receive facility itself. DirecTV installed some very new equipment designed to capture local signals, turn them into digital signals, and then send them over fiber optic cables to their satellite uplink facility. They have had many problems getting all this high-tech gear to work right.
Now DirecTV is removing this troublesome equipment and installing new. It should be in operation well before the first of the year. When this happens DirecTV plans to offer local signals in High Definition once it concludes agreements with the local stations allowing them to do this. Meanwhile viewers who watch in SD should see fewer artifacts on their DirecTV screens.
The issue is not KDFX's signal. It's the same signal we put out over the air on analog and digital TV, and which we send to the cable company. Actually the problem occurs in the DirecTV receive facility itself. DirecTV installed some very new equipment designed to capture local signals, turn them into digital signals, and then send them over fiber optic cables to their satellite uplink facility. They have had many problems getting all this high-tech gear to work right.
Now DirecTV is removing this troublesome equipment and installing new. It should be in operation well before the first of the year. When this happens DirecTV plans to offer local signals in High Definition once it concludes agreements with the local stations allowing them to do this. Meanwhile viewers who watch in SD should see fewer artifacts on their DirecTV screens.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Coachella Valley Economy Struggles
Last week experts gave the Coachella Valley economy a grade of D+, which is not much better than an "F." We were an early indicator of the direction the rest of the world would go. Because our economy was so dependent upon new home building, when things went bad, our economy soured earlier than much of the rest of the U.S.
The Hispanic community has been especially hard hit, because the majority of the skilled and unskilled workers who built all those houses were Hispanic. Those tradesmen are now out of work. The situation isn't much better for the businesses that cater to people moving into new homes including furniture stores, flooring and carpet dealers, and home improvement businesses. Local auto dealers are having a tough time, and my heart goes out to all who depend upon that business everywhere in our country. Even if a willing buyer wants to purchase a car, credit is difficult to get.
Businesses who cater to snowbirds are wondering what kind of vacation season we'll see this year. My best guess there is that our Canadian guests will return in force. Canada's resource-driven economy seems to be weathering the economic storm better than most countries, and the Canadian dollar, or "Looney" is still worth more than a U.S. Dollar.
Part-time residents are already returning to our neighborhood, and it's encouraging to see the lights on their homes on at night and the bustle at some of the local restaurants.
We local broadcasters depend upon local retailers and service providers for advertising dollars. The advertising business has been hit, too, by declining budgets. Local businesses just don't have as much money as they once had to advertise. Take a look at the Desert Sun. It's narrow and the copy has been reduced to six columns. They changed the size of the roll of paper used to print the newspaper. In the newspaper business it's called the "web." I find that ironic, since it's the WEB (Internet) which is eating into all media businesses. Newsprint is one of the most expensive items used to create a newspaper. Newsprint prices have been rising and advertising revenues have been declining. That is a recipe for economic trouble.
Like everyone else, all we can do is hunker down and push straight ahead until the storm dies down.
The Hispanic community has been especially hard hit, because the majority of the skilled and unskilled workers who built all those houses were Hispanic. Those tradesmen are now out of work. The situation isn't much better for the businesses that cater to people moving into new homes including furniture stores, flooring and carpet dealers, and home improvement businesses. Local auto dealers are having a tough time, and my heart goes out to all who depend upon that business everywhere in our country. Even if a willing buyer wants to purchase a car, credit is difficult to get.
Businesses who cater to snowbirds are wondering what kind of vacation season we'll see this year. My best guess there is that our Canadian guests will return in force. Canada's resource-driven economy seems to be weathering the economic storm better than most countries, and the Canadian dollar, or "Looney" is still worth more than a U.S. Dollar.
Part-time residents are already returning to our neighborhood, and it's encouraging to see the lights on their homes on at night and the bustle at some of the local restaurants.
We local broadcasters depend upon local retailers and service providers for advertising dollars. The advertising business has been hit, too, by declining budgets. Local businesses just don't have as much money as they once had to advertise. Take a look at the Desert Sun. It's narrow and the copy has been reduced to six columns. They changed the size of the roll of paper used to print the newspaper. In the newspaper business it's called the "web." I find that ironic, since it's the WEB (Internet) which is eating into all media businesses. Newsprint is one of the most expensive items used to create a newspaper. Newsprint prices have been rising and advertising revenues have been declining. That is a recipe for economic trouble.
Like everyone else, all we can do is hunker down and push straight ahead until the storm dies down.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Mexicans Concur with Some Palm Springs Stations' DTV Plans
At long last, after years of waiting, the Mexican government recently concurred with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's approval of digital TV plans for the two full-power Palm Springs television stations.
To put it in simpler terms, about 40 TV stations located within 200 Km of the U.S. border must first apply for U.S. permission to build out their final digital TV facilities. All these stations are now operating analog programming on their original over-the-air channel and a second, "borrowed' digital channel. On February 17th, they must return either the original analog channel or the "borrowed" channel. The FCC has auctioned off the spectrum, mostly to large national cell phone providers. Some of the current television spectrum will be given to law enforcement, fire safety, and emergency first responders.
While the FCC has approved these station's plans for the transition, the Mexican government must agree to them. This is because of a long-standing agreement between the two countries, designed to keep them from separately approving TV and radio facilities which interfere with stations in the others' country.
Concurrence is difficult to get, if for no other reason than the Mexican government has layers of bureaucracy which often change with the shifting winds of Mexican politics.
But rather than complain about the Mexican concurrence process, I'm just happy that we finally can plan to increase the power of our DTV facility. We will be able to double the power of KESQ-DT, which will slightly increase our coverage area, but should give people who try to receive our DTV with an indoor antenna a much better chance of getting a signal. In KESQ-DT's case, we must give up our "borrowed" DTV channel because it's channel 52....and that channel has been auctioned off across the country. So we are switching our analog channel to digital on February 18th, 2009. The process should be transparent to viewers. Our plan is to re-channel our existing DTV transmitter that night. We are installing a new antenna at our site on Edom Hill this autumn.
KMIR also received concurrence for their plan. It's my understanding (without talking to anyone there) that they are going to keep their existing DTV channel, which is over-the-air channel 47. That means that their "old" analog channel 36 has been or will be auctioned off to spectrum bidders.
KPSP (CBS) is a low power TV station operating on over-the-air channel 38, and I have heard, without confirmation, that they have not received Mexican conccurrence for any sort of digital facility at all. (See below regarding low power TV digital concurrence)
None of these changes will mean that you have to re-tune your digital TV sets. Digital TV uses a system called "virtual channels" which will tell your DTV set that even though it's tuned to a different frequency, KESQ-DT will still be channel 42 (over the air) and KMIR-DT will be channel 36 over-the-air (a virtual channel, even though their "actual" channel is 47.)
We actually carry five signals on KESQ-DT, although they appear to the viewer to be five, different stations. We duplicate the analog signals of our ABC, Fox, Telemundo, and CW stations, plus our digital weather channel, the First Alert Weather Channel. So with our souped-up digital facility, you should have an easier time than ever getting them if you are using an over-the-air antenna.
All the other TV stations in Palm Springs are low power stations, which are subject to a completely different set of transition regulations. About a year ago the FCC agreed to "loan" a second digital channel to each low power station in the country, if one was available. Once again, because of their proximity to the Mexican border, each one of these plans required Mexican concurrence after the U.S. approved them. So far the concurrence process has been sketchy because the Mexicans are applying their own rules to what gets approved and what doesn't. If you've ever been to Mexico, you know what I mean. Without a carefully written agreement, enforced by the Mexican courts, getting any kind of government approval often depends upon who's in power this week, who you know, who you're related to, and sometimes who you pay.
So far we have received concurrence to build a digital companion to KUNA-TV and KCWQ-TV, our Telemundo and CW affiliates. We have not received concurrence for a companion for KDFX-CA, our Fox affiliate, nor for K27DS, which is our translator serving the High Desert. The plans are technically not a problem, but with Mexico, you never know. Absent a new, detailed, and most important written agreement between the U.S. and Mexico the concurrence process will continue to be fraught with uncertainty.
To put it in simpler terms, about 40 TV stations located within 200 Km of the U.S. border must first apply for U.S. permission to build out their final digital TV facilities. All these stations are now operating analog programming on their original over-the-air channel and a second, "borrowed' digital channel. On February 17th, they must return either the original analog channel or the "borrowed" channel. The FCC has auctioned off the spectrum, mostly to large national cell phone providers. Some of the current television spectrum will be given to law enforcement, fire safety, and emergency first responders.
While the FCC has approved these station's plans for the transition, the Mexican government must agree to them. This is because of a long-standing agreement between the two countries, designed to keep them from separately approving TV and radio facilities which interfere with stations in the others' country.
Concurrence is difficult to get, if for no other reason than the Mexican government has layers of bureaucracy which often change with the shifting winds of Mexican politics.
But rather than complain about the Mexican concurrence process, I'm just happy that we finally can plan to increase the power of our DTV facility. We will be able to double the power of KESQ-DT, which will slightly increase our coverage area, but should give people who try to receive our DTV with an indoor antenna a much better chance of getting a signal. In KESQ-DT's case, we must give up our "borrowed" DTV channel because it's channel 52....and that channel has been auctioned off across the country. So we are switching our analog channel to digital on February 18th, 2009. The process should be transparent to viewers. Our plan is to re-channel our existing DTV transmitter that night. We are installing a new antenna at our site on Edom Hill this autumn.
KMIR also received concurrence for their plan. It's my understanding (without talking to anyone there) that they are going to keep their existing DTV channel, which is over-the-air channel 47. That means that their "old" analog channel 36 has been or will be auctioned off to spectrum bidders.
KPSP (CBS) is a low power TV station operating on over-the-air channel 38, and I have heard, without confirmation, that they have not received Mexican conccurrence for any sort of digital facility at all. (See below regarding low power TV digital concurrence)
None of these changes will mean that you have to re-tune your digital TV sets. Digital TV uses a system called "virtual channels" which will tell your DTV set that even though it's tuned to a different frequency, KESQ-DT will still be channel 42 (over the air) and KMIR-DT will be channel 36 over-the-air (a virtual channel, even though their "actual" channel is 47.)
We actually carry five signals on KESQ-DT, although they appear to the viewer to be five, different stations. We duplicate the analog signals of our ABC, Fox, Telemundo, and CW stations, plus our digital weather channel, the First Alert Weather Channel. So with our souped-up digital facility, you should have an easier time than ever getting them if you are using an over-the-air antenna.
All the other TV stations in Palm Springs are low power stations, which are subject to a completely different set of transition regulations. About a year ago the FCC agreed to "loan" a second digital channel to each low power station in the country, if one was available. Once again, because of their proximity to the Mexican border, each one of these plans required Mexican concurrence after the U.S. approved them. So far the concurrence process has been sketchy because the Mexicans are applying their own rules to what gets approved and what doesn't. If you've ever been to Mexico, you know what I mean. Without a carefully written agreement, enforced by the Mexican courts, getting any kind of government approval often depends upon who's in power this week, who you know, who you're related to, and sometimes who you pay.
So far we have received concurrence to build a digital companion to KUNA-TV and KCWQ-TV, our Telemundo and CW affiliates. We have not received concurrence for a companion for KDFX-CA, our Fox affiliate, nor for K27DS, which is our translator serving the High Desert. The plans are technically not a problem, but with Mexico, you never know. Absent a new, detailed, and most important written agreement between the U.S. and Mexico the concurrence process will continue to be fraught with uncertainty.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Latest Information on Palm Springs Local Stations on DirecTV and Echostar
Both Echostar and DirecTV are now carrying the Palm Springs local stations. Echostar charges $5.00 extra for the service, while DirecTV offers it for free. There are no local HD signals on satellite right now because neither provider has the necessary bandwidth. However, on February 17, 2009, KESQ and KMIR will have to cease analog transmissions. The other Palm Springs network affiliated stations are all low power TV stations which can remain analog if they choose. Without digressing too much, I will speculate that both Echostar and DirecTV will pick up the digital signals of KESQ and KMIR. However, HDTV requires more bandwidth so they will likely offer our digital signals in SDTV. That means "standard defnition." The picture quality is not as sharp as HDTV, but it's much sharper than analog television. The satellite carriers aren't allowed to make changes to our programming, so if we offer only wide-screen programs then you will see them in wide screen on your TV. Not a problem if you have a wide screen set. But if it's a 4 X 3 set then you will see black bars across the top and bottom of the screen (letter box) and the picture will be smaller. The local cable system carries KESQ and KDFX in both wide screen and 4 X 3 sizes.
We have had few complaints about Echostar, although from time to time, during wind storms. I think all the local station signals deteriorate due to sand in the air and the receive antennas on their facility (located in Palm Springs) moving around. DirecTV gets KESQ, KDFX, KUNA, and KESQ via a wired feed because their local receive facility is located in our studios. They have off-air receiving antennas installed on our microwave tower to get the other Palm Springs stations. I do occasionally get a complaint about the quality of DirecTV's signals. Sometimes it's about the sound being out of sync with the picture and sometimes it's pixellation. These are common digital transmission problems which are outside of our ability to do anything. About all we can do (and we do this!) is to complain to DirecTV which is very responsive. They have a very new, high-tech installation in Palm Springs and I think they are still de-bugging it.
We have had few complaints about Echostar, although from time to time, during wind storms. I think all the local station signals deteriorate due to sand in the air and the receive antennas on their facility (located in Palm Springs) moving around. DirecTV gets KESQ, KDFX, KUNA, and KESQ via a wired feed because their local receive facility is located in our studios. They have off-air receiving antennas installed on our microwave tower to get the other Palm Springs stations. I do occasionally get a complaint about the quality of DirecTV's signals. Sometimes it's about the sound being out of sync with the picture and sometimes it's pixellation. These are common digital transmission problems which are outside of our ability to do anything. About all we can do (and we do this!) is to complain to DirecTV which is very responsive. They have a very new, high-tech installation in Palm Springs and I think they are still de-bugging it.
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