Tom Snyder
11-16-2002, 11:53 AM
Finally getting the time to write about my conversation with Chuck Steinmetz, VP and GM of Channel 6.
Because of my time in broadcasting (which incidentally included time as program director at WEZW when we pitched and landed a partnership with them to provide us our on-air weather and news), we had lots in common. Being able to communicate as peers made the conversation cordial and informative. As you may know, he and I had been exchanging emails, when he decided to simply pick up the phone and call me. We spoke for about 45 minutes.
Would Chuck love to flip a magic switch and turn on a full-time HDTV signal that covered the entire southeastern corner of Wisconsin? Yes, emphatically.
What prevents that?
Several factors. Chuck is just celebrating the first anniversary of his position as GM. What means is that he has been operating the station with a budget that a previous GM put in place. Since he's been there, he's been doing everything he can to implement a full digital roll out. The major factor working against him is the fact that the 6 tower in Estabrook Park needs major reinforcements to support a digital antenna. The process takes a lot of time, resources and dollars, and the weather at 1000 ft hasn't been kind. For all intent and purpose, Winter is now here, and so work can't resume till next Spring.
Why not mount the antenna on the community tower? Control and expense...Having your signal at the mercy of a landlord is pretty dangerous, and so for most operators, renting space is only an option if they have no other choice. Mounting your antenna on someone else's tower, especially if you already own one is indefensible from a business standpoint, as is temporarily putting a full power antenna up there temporarily is also just not good business sense.
The FCC May 1st deadline required only a predicted 41 dbu signal strength to cover the city of license (City of Milwaukee), and they were able to accomplish that with the low power antenna mounted on their relay tower. Are they happy with the coverage that gives them? No. But given the hand Chuck was dealt, that was the best he could do.
He understands our passion and our frustration. But one thing that he hoped we'd understand is that HDTV isn't the only issue he has to deal with. His goal is to satisfy the largest possible audience he can. And right now, HDTV owners make up tiny fraction of the audience. Divide that fraction among all the other stations (both digital and analog), and the fraction gets even smaller. And as of now, no one has any real measurement of the size of the HDTV audience. Neilsen doesn't measure the viewing habits, and none of qualitative audience measurement services even test to see how many sets there are. And while one gauge of measurement is the number angry letters, his stack of letters complaining about the loss of Scott Steele on their morning news show garnered ten times the letters in the few weeks it was an issue than he's gotten about their digital programming or lack thereof in the 5 years it's been an issue.
Will more angry letters make it happen any faster? No. The full power signal will happen when it happens, on the weather. And that's not an attitude, it's unfortunately just a fact.
I reminded him about the fact that the roll out of digital was certainly no surprise, and that with 5 years to get this done, his major network affiliate competitors somehow managed to get it done. He agreed with me, however he reminded me that as a Fox owned and operated station there are political and business issues that he is bound by. And because he knew that our conversation was going to become part of a public forum, I understood the position I was putting him with any further questions down this path, so I stopped there.
The good news is that he's also in negotiations with Time Warner for carriage. He's working really hard to get that done, because he knows, like the other GM's, that rooftop and bow tie antennas aren't what will help HDTV reach critical mass.
I invited him to participate in a live chat, and offer that he appreciated, but felt that, as a non technical guy, he didn't feel he'd really be able to contribute much of value. However, he did say that he'd continue to monitor the forums, something that Don Hain (his local engineer), and Earl Arbuckle (the corporate engineer responsible for rolling out all the Fox digital channels) already have been doing.
So there you have it. Don't know if there's anything here that we didn't already know, and probably some stuff that we don't want to hear. My intent isn't to rally the angry villagers, or try to carry water for Fox, nationally or locally. But, like Walter Cronkite used to say...that's the way it is.
[This message has been edited by Tom Snyder (edited 11-16-2002).]
Because of my time in broadcasting (which incidentally included time as program director at WEZW when we pitched and landed a partnership with them to provide us our on-air weather and news), we had lots in common. Being able to communicate as peers made the conversation cordial and informative. As you may know, he and I had been exchanging emails, when he decided to simply pick up the phone and call me. We spoke for about 45 minutes.
Would Chuck love to flip a magic switch and turn on a full-time HDTV signal that covered the entire southeastern corner of Wisconsin? Yes, emphatically.
What prevents that?
Several factors. Chuck is just celebrating the first anniversary of his position as GM. What means is that he has been operating the station with a budget that a previous GM put in place. Since he's been there, he's been doing everything he can to implement a full digital roll out. The major factor working against him is the fact that the 6 tower in Estabrook Park needs major reinforcements to support a digital antenna. The process takes a lot of time, resources and dollars, and the weather at 1000 ft hasn't been kind. For all intent and purpose, Winter is now here, and so work can't resume till next Spring.
Why not mount the antenna on the community tower? Control and expense...Having your signal at the mercy of a landlord is pretty dangerous, and so for most operators, renting space is only an option if they have no other choice. Mounting your antenna on someone else's tower, especially if you already own one is indefensible from a business standpoint, as is temporarily putting a full power antenna up there temporarily is also just not good business sense.
The FCC May 1st deadline required only a predicted 41 dbu signal strength to cover the city of license (City of Milwaukee), and they were able to accomplish that with the low power antenna mounted on their relay tower. Are they happy with the coverage that gives them? No. But given the hand Chuck was dealt, that was the best he could do.
He understands our passion and our frustration. But one thing that he hoped we'd understand is that HDTV isn't the only issue he has to deal with. His goal is to satisfy the largest possible audience he can. And right now, HDTV owners make up tiny fraction of the audience. Divide that fraction among all the other stations (both digital and analog), and the fraction gets even smaller. And as of now, no one has any real measurement of the size of the HDTV audience. Neilsen doesn't measure the viewing habits, and none of qualitative audience measurement services even test to see how many sets there are. And while one gauge of measurement is the number angry letters, his stack of letters complaining about the loss of Scott Steele on their morning news show garnered ten times the letters in the few weeks it was an issue than he's gotten about their digital programming or lack thereof in the 5 years it's been an issue.
Will more angry letters make it happen any faster? No. The full power signal will happen when it happens, on the weather. And that's not an attitude, it's unfortunately just a fact.
I reminded him about the fact that the roll out of digital was certainly no surprise, and that with 5 years to get this done, his major network affiliate competitors somehow managed to get it done. He agreed with me, however he reminded me that as a Fox owned and operated station there are political and business issues that he is bound by. And because he knew that our conversation was going to become part of a public forum, I understood the position I was putting him with any further questions down this path, so I stopped there.
The good news is that he's also in negotiations with Time Warner for carriage. He's working really hard to get that done, because he knows, like the other GM's, that rooftop and bow tie antennas aren't what will help HDTV reach critical mass.
I invited him to participate in a live chat, and offer that he appreciated, but felt that, as a non technical guy, he didn't feel he'd really be able to contribute much of value. However, he did say that he'd continue to monitor the forums, something that Don Hain (his local engineer), and Earl Arbuckle (the corporate engineer responsible for rolling out all the Fox digital channels) already have been doing.
So there you have it. Don't know if there's anything here that we didn't already know, and probably some stuff that we don't want to hear. My intent isn't to rally the angry villagers, or try to carry water for Fox, nationally or locally. But, like Walter Cronkite used to say...that's the way it is.
[This message has been edited by Tom Snyder (edited 11-16-2002).]