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Thread: Los Angeles is getting a new TV station: Channel 10.5

  1. #1
    I just got off the phone with one of the partners in a new TV station for the Los Angeles area. Their channel is 10.5 and it launches on April 15th.

    What kind of channel is "ten and a half"? Well, it's a real digital channel and it will have real programs.

    Those of us who have Cable TV really don't know what has been going on in the "real world." There are lots of these community digital TV stations that can reach several hundred thousand or even a million households. While the Cable TV systems might not be carrying these channels, consumers (homes) that are not tied to a Cable system can find them.

    Remember when you were required to either be on a Cable system or have a digital TV set with your own digital antenna? Well, it was that change in how we watch TV that made channel 10.5 and a lot of other channels possible.

    What is also interesting is that this company that owns 10.5 also has some other digital channels that are for lease, so you could literally have your own TV channel.

    Of course these days you can also have your own Internet TV Channel too.

    It really is a media revolution that we are living in.

  2. #2
    The problem is that very few people have external antennas anymore, and many of these stations are just too low powered to do any good. Heck, on my current TV I can't get channels 7, 9, 11, or 13 over the air because they require a VHF antenna and they do not penetrate well through the walls at my house. It is better to piggyback off a signal on an existing full powered station. The Ulloas, who own channels 23, 44, and 57, have got to be making beaucoup bucks at selling their signal to the many foreign language operators. The digital subchannels have been a huge boon to our diverse community in giving them the same television choices that English and Spanish language viewers have had for years.

    As you note the trend is shifting towards Internet based video, however services to leverage that as an addition to over the air service, like Sezmi, have not had much success. The people I know are either Internet only, with maybe OTA for local news and emergencies only or they have cable/satellite/fiber. I don't watch that much OTA TV myself because the media universe is so much bigger.

  3. #3
    As a gift, I got a combination DVD player with a built-in digital TV. It's small, about the size of a small laptop computer, and weighs even less. I don't think it's an expensive item. It comes with an external digital antenna that has a magnetic base and there is a plug for the cigarette lighter in the car. So... thought I'd try it in the car. Well, the digital TV works great and the picture is crystal clear -- but only when I am at a stop. When the car is moving, there is no picture, no sound and I get a blue screen that says the station can't be found.

    But at a stop sign, or parked on the side of the road, the picture is crystal clear... even better than what I see at home on cable.

    Now, another issue: When I set up the digital TV, I had to do a "scan" of available TV channels. I know there are more than 50 digital channels in LA, but the TV did not pick up all of them. Is this because of their "low power"?

    By the way, I tried this little digital TV first in the Temecula area, and then later in downtown LA and then finally in the Santa Monica area. Conditions were the same -- when the car was moving there was nothing to see on the TV. But at a stop it was a crystal clear picture.

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