TV Worth Blogging
by David Thiel, Program Director for WILL-TV
An insider's view of public television programming and the issues that help determine what and how you watch
What's On The World?
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, PBS World is now available 24 hours a day on WILL's digital channel 12.2. (It is also anticipated to launch on Comcast cable systems throughout Central Illinois on May 27.)
I wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the regular series offered on PBS World. Some are not currently aired on our primary channel, but several are old favorites now offered at alternate viewing times for your convenience! Take a peek at what the World has to offer!
New/Returning:
Worldfocus - Airs weeknights at 10:30 pm. A nightly, half-hour, high-impact global news broadcast featuring breaking news and enterprise reporting on the issues transforming countries, cultures and the global economy.
Tavis Smiley - Airs weekdays at 11:00 and 11:30 am; also Tuesday - Saturday at 3:30 am. The television counterpart to Public Radio International's Tavis Smiley Show (Sundays at 2:00 pm on WILL-AM), a hybrid of news, issues and entertainment, featuring interviews with newsmakers, politicians, celebrities and real people.
John McLaughlin's One on One - Airs Wednesdays at 6:00 am and 12:00 noon. The host of The McLaughlin Group interviews newsmakers in this half-hour, weekly series.
Also look for European Journal, Global Voices, Scully/The World Show, Second Opinion and Think Tank.
Alternate Viewing Times:
Charlie Rose - Airs weekdays at 5:00 am and 4:00 pm.
The McLaughlin Group - Airs Sundays at 7:30 and 11:30 pm; Mondays at 3:30 am; and Wednesdays at 6:30 am and 12:30 pm.
The Newshour with Jim Lehrer - Airs weeknights at 9:00 pm; Tuesday - Saturday at 2:00 am.
The Nightly Business Report - Airs weeknights at 10:00 pm; Tuesday - Saturday at 3:00 am.
Those are just a few of the regular series you'll find on PBS World. Others include documentaries such as American Experience, Frontline, History Detectives, Independent Lens, Nature, Nova and P.O.V. Public affairs shows on World include Bill Moyers' Journal, Foreign Exchange, Now on PBS, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, To the Contrary, Washington Week and Wealthtrack.
Further Status Update: Cable, Satellite and Guide Issues
A new week finds that most of the issues affecting WILL's cable/satellite carriage, as well as our guide listings, have been resolved.
Here's where things stand! New update on April 30; read below for details.
TV Listings: We've received a number of messages--some more polite than others--regarding problems with the program listings seen in area newspapers as well as various on-screen TV guides. Among those affected were Dish Network, TiVo and Replay TV. This issue originated with a service which collects TV schedule data and sells that information to others. They were giving out the wrong schedule for WILL, replacing our primary channel's lineup with the listings for PBS World. (We air World on one of our secondary digital channels.) I contacted them and convinced them to correct the error. It took a few days for the update to make its way to the end product, but it appears that our listings are now correct.
Cable/Satellite Carriage: Updated. All of the cable and satellite systems which had mistakenly replaced our primary channel with PBS World have been successfully contacted. Suddenlink restored our primary channel late Thursday afternoon.
Comcast: WILL-TV is no longer carried on Comcast's analog tier in Bloomington/Normal. We are still available to digital cable subscribers. The reasons for this change can be found in my previous blog post. We have no reason to believe that we will be reinstated to the analog tier. Comcast customers that wish to continue to receive WILL-TV will either need to upgrade to digital cable, or receive our over-the-air signal.
In other areas in which WILL's signal overlaps that of another PBS station--notably in Springfield and Decatur--Comcast has given us "primary status," and we will continue to be carried on both their analog and digital tiers. WILL-TV has been serving Springfield and Decatur for more than fifty years, and we appreciate Comcast's recognition of that history.
That's the update. If you have other questions or concerns, please contact us.
Update: Cable, Satellite and Program Guide Issues
Over the last few days, we have been deluged with calls and e-mails regarding a variety of problems related to cable, satellite and program guides. We've spent a great deal of time attempting to track down the underlying issues and to contact appropriate staff at these various services.
That’s been more difficult than you might think. One thing that I've learned is that cable companies make it very difficult to reach anyone in charge.
Expand this entry to find our where things stand...
Cable/satellite systems airing the wrong programming. On some services, our regular lineup was replaced by "PBS World." Apparently, these services were using WILL-TV's digital multicast channel 12.2 instead of our primary channel on 12.1 When we switched 12.2 over to PBS World last week, their customers began receiving the wrong program schedule. Here are the ones that we know about:
*** Dish - This was resolved last week. (Their on-screen guide is still wrong; more on that later in this post.)
*** New Wave Communications - Resolved yesterday.
*** Suddenlink - Not resolved. Suddenlink has been unwilling to provide us with phone numbers for any of their technical/management staff. Subscribers will need to call Suddenlink's customer support line and voice their complaint. Call (800) 255-8389.
In addition, Comcast viewers in Covington, Indiana reported that they were receiving WILL-TV 12.3 ("Create") instead of our primary channel. This was a technical gaffe on Comcast’s part, and unrelated to the carriage agreement that took off us the analog service in Bloomington. We believe that this issue has been resolved.
Program guides listing the wrong lineup. Some on-screen guides and newspaper listings are displaying WILL 12.2 ("PBS World") instead of our primary channel. To my knowledge, among those affected are Dish, Replay TV and TiVo, as well as many area papers.
It appears that all of these can be traced back to one of the companies which collect and distribute TV listings to cable, satellite and news services. I've contacted the company in question, and believe that they are addressing the issue. However, it will take some time for the corrections to propagate to end users.
In general, we want viewers to know that we are aware of the problems and doing all we can to resolve them. Unfortunately, none of these matters are under our direct control; all that we can do is call the appropriate parties and encourage them to take action.
Viewers may wish to take the initiative to directly contact their cable and satellite providers and report any ongoing problems.
If your cable/satellite provider is not one of those listed above, please contact us if you are seeing the wrong programming and/or on-screen guide. It's impossible for us to monitor the many services that carry our programming, and we depend upon your help.
PBS World (and Create) Now Available 24 Hours A Day!
This morning, WILL-TV took its final step (for now) in its digital multicast plans. Effective today, WILL 12.2--which had previously been a standard-definition simulcast of our primary channel--is the new home for PBS World!
We're now able to offer the full slate of World programming, including news, public affairs and documentaries. You can watch favorites such as Charlie Rose or The Newshour at alternate times, or enjoy series such as Tavis Smiley and WorldFocus that we previously couldn't accommodate on a single channel.
You can find the PBS World lineup on our schedule page; look for the row titled "WILL 12.2."
At the moment, you'll need to be able to receive over-the-air digital signals to watch World. See our DTV FAQ for more information. We'll be contacting cable services throughout the area about the new channel, and we'll post information about where to find PBS World on cable as it becomes available.
The move of PBS World to its own channel means that we're once again able to offer the popular Create how-to program service on a 24-hour basis. Spend your evenings with your favorite chefs, artists, gardeners, crafters and travel buffs! Check out our schedule page for the lineup on WILL 12.3. More information about Create is available at its website.
Update: Comcast in Bloomington
This morning, we began to receive calls from Comcast cable customers in the Bloomington, IL area who reported that they were no longer able to receive WILL-TV. We've investigated the situation, and here's what we know:
WILL-TV no longer appears on the analog tier of Comcast's service in and around Bloomington/Normal. We are still available to Comcast customers who receive digital service, typically through a set-top box. According to Comcast's own estimate, this change currently affects about 20% of their subscribers, those who have not yet upgraded to digital cable.
To continue to receive WILL-TV, those customers will need to exercise one of two options:
1) Upgrade to digital cable. According to a Comcast spokesperson, they will be offering free installation of set-top boxes, and no additional charge for the first 12 months. Please contact your local Comcast office for more information.
2) Receive our free, over-the-air signal. Our digital broadcast offers crystal-clear HD programs (when available) and three different channels. You may need a digital converter box and/or a better antenna. Read our DTV FAQ for more information.
So, why the change? Read on...
Some time ago, PBS worked out an agreement with the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (which represents Comcast, among other cable providers) to ensure that public TV stations would continue to be carried on their systems once the U.S. completed its transition to digital-only television. The end product attempted to serve both the interests of PBS' member stations, which wanted carriage of all of their multicast channels; and the cable industry, which was understandably concerned about using scarce bandwidth on potentially duplicative program services.
The PBS/NCTA carriage agreement allows a cable company to designate one public TV station in each market as the “primary” service. Comcast has decided that WILL is the primary PBS station in Champaign-Urbana/Springfield/Decatur, and that WTVP (out of Peoria) is the primary in Bloomington/Normal. The primary PBS station is guaranteed full carriage of all of its digital channels. Furthermore, that station's main channel is offered on the cable system's analog tier.
Any PBS station that did not receive this primary status was required to make a choice:
Option #1: Analog-only carriage. The cable company would carry only our main channel (12.1), and it would be a "down-converted," standard-definition, analog signal. On the plus side, this channel would be available to all cable subscribers, even those who have not yet made the switch to digital service. On the minus side, none of our shows would be in high-definition, and none of our multicast channels would be available, even for those customers receiving digital cable.
Option #2: Digital carriage. All of our digital channels would be carried—in HD, as available—but we would have no presence on the analog-only tier. One of the factors in our consideration was that a sizeable majority (about 80%) of Comcast customers in Bloomington already have digital service. Another was that analog service will not be maintained in the long run; like it or not, all cable customers will have to upgrade within the next two to three years. If we’d selected analog-only carriage, we would’ve been stuck with that choice until Comcast entirely discontinued its analog service.
Ultimately, we went with the digital option. We know that it means that some viewers will be temporarily unable to receive our programming, and we are truly sorry for that. Over the long run, however, it means that we are able to offer our full suite of digital channels and HD programs to as wide an audience as possible. If you have any questions, or want help receiving over-the-air signals, please contact us.
Public TV Is Tops With Mr. Peabody
The 2009 Peabody Awards for excellence in electronic media were announced on April 1 and PBS programs received seven, more than any other media outlet.
Among the recipients was the long-running Friday night series Washington Week with Gwen Ifill. It was cited as "the political talk show that sets the standard for the genre."
More winners after the jump!
Independent Lens took two awards for its documentaries. One was for "King Corn," about a pair of college students planted an acre of the crop and took it to market, and the other was for "Mapping Stem Cell Research - Terra Incognita," which explored scientific, ethical and emotional issues surrounding the controversial research.
Other documentary winners included Depression: Out of the Shadows and its look at clinical depression through the eyes of its sufferers. P.O.V. was recognized for "Campaign," which dove into Japanese politics as it followed a man plucked from obscurity by the ruling party to run for a critical seat on a suburban city council. And Nova got the nod for "Ape Genius," about the secret mental lives of our closest cousins.
Finally, the Metropolitan Opera was honored for its series of HD broadcasts to theaters across the nation, all of which also later aired on public TV as part of Great Performances at the Met.
The awards will be handed out at a ceremony on May 18, hosted by Brian Williams of NBC News.
*****
I want to take a moment to recognize the passing of an American broadcast icon: CBS announced that it will cancel the soap-opera Guiding Light, effective September 18, 2009. The dramatic series got its start on radio back in 1937, and moved to television in 1952. While a number of public TV shows can boast decades of longevity, none can approach the 72-year life span of Guiding Light. Producer Procter & Gamble hopes to find another outlet for the show.
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