on stream, there is no space for them. Established channels don't need to permit sub channels, so additional channels may not be possible.
1) I don't think sub channels will confuse people, plus for the most part it is new content, right, so people will need to learn it anyways, As new content I have 3.2 is local news/weather, 5.2 is This, 33.3 is create, 33.4 is world, 44.2 isCW , 57.2 is world view and 57.3 is arts show case
2) yes there are fewer physical channels, but the reality is that with analogue you could not have adjacent channels in a market, so the reality is that you could not have 68 (2-69) so I don't think there are many (actually any) markets that had more then 44 analogue channels. If there is any pleas tell me which one.
3) do you really think there will be that much growth in content, now I know that I gave of the extra US content (3, CBS, 5 NBC, 44 FOX and 33/57 PBS) and all but my ABC (22) have added subs and 27 which is LP and still analog (and I have not caught it in years), so the content has double for the US stations I get but how many networks are really out there for the need of many more then 44 stations owners?
4) do you really think there will be real growth in "owners/channels" there is a reason that Sub channels are used, the same owner can add subs and bring in more ad revenue while only increasing his costs by the content cost. Obviously, for example the guy who runs channel 5 needs to pay for This which is added to his cost of NBC but when I watch Stargate (which I do) then the guy that owns 5 gets the ad $, same with shows like supernatural on CW. Obviously the owner will pay for the extra content, but he won't need separate emitters, antenna so it is much cheaper to him then opening a new station.... and 44 real stations could easily become 88 (if they all average 2) which is much more then the 68 that used to be available.
I am curious, anyone know the ATSC specs? can the same real channel have different sub channels (i.e. could 20 be 5.1 and 25.1? I am guessing there would be issues that would need regulatory approval because they would want to limit/know virtual channel numbering, but technically is it possible?)
But here is where I tie it into points 3 and 4 (for Canada at least), I think it would be cooler/ better if they went a different route, keep SRC/CBC separate but add to them, doesn't the CBC own RDI, newsworld and Country Canada? add RDI as a sub to SRC, NW or CC to CBC, the same could be done with most networks Global owns HGTV, food ..., CTV owns RDS/TSN..... But why would that happen (unless the CRTC changes the rules) CBC does not get anything for CBC/SRC from cable/sat companies but they do get for RDI, NW and CC because they are speciality channels and not free broadcast channels. You also have an other issue, of how many are in bed together, I contacted my local CTV and TVA to ask when they will start broadcasting in digital/HD and they said not until the deadline, it could be a coincidence that SRC,CBC,V, TQ have all gone digital and these two have not but I guess CTV being partially owned by Bell (who own Expressvue a sat company) and TVA owned by Quebecor (who own Videotron the local cableco) might prefer we use their services then OTA.
Converting a station to HD is a three step process, you need to get your control room digital, which can mean replacing a lot of equipment, none of this stuff is available used so it's expensive, and the value of the old analog equipment is next to nothing now. I don't think you can even buy new analog control room equipment now, probably have not been for several years now.
You need to work out the ERP needed for the ATSC transmitter, for relatively flat areas this can probably be derived from conversion tables. South Central Ontario is tricky though, there are a lot of reception holes. It makes sense to use Toronto as a testbed, because of this.
Third you need the ATSC transmitter itself, once it's programmed for power and channel it's simply a matter of plugging it in and firing it up. I expect that for a lot of stations they are working on the control room stuff now, will install the transmitter warm everything up on idle, will switch transmitters and run a few tests in the middle of the night when nobody is watching, then switch back before viewers find out when they get up at 6am. Once they are happy then will turn off the ATSC transmitter and leave it until the deadline, then switch them one last time. This saves them needing to apply for permits for another channel for testing.
I expect that a lot of sub channels, where they do show up, will be semi-specialty channels, and a few of the existing cable only channels will be looking for an OTA licence. I would not be surprized to find stations like Newsworld showing up as sub channels on their home networks channel. Until the end of 2011 it's probably a good idea to channel scan once every couple of weeks to see what shows up.
What will be interesting is when they will start turning off the analog, will it be on deadline day, will some channels switch before that.
