| Revision as of 10:18, 19 December 2021 editWashuotaku (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users21,838 edits Reversed two edits by Mlaffs; needs to be a better solution than deleting information from the article. If the translators are no more, some former list or color scheme should be used.Tag: Undo← Previous edit | Revision as of 15:29, 19 December 2021 edit undoMlaffs (talk | contribs)Administrators363,893 edits standard approach in these situations is to remove the details for cancelled translators, but here's one way to keep it - feel free to adjust if you'd prefer something differentNext edit → | ||
| Line 269: | Line 269: | ||
| ==Translators== | ==Translators== | ||
| PBS NC operates |
PBS NC operates 22 ]. Each translator is assigned to the license of a parent PBS NC full-power station, all of which simulcast the same network signal. Two directly repeat WUNC-TV, three directly repeat WUNE-TV, two directly repeat WUNG-TV, three directly repeat WUNL-TV, and 12 directly repeat WUNF-TV. | ||
| The |
The 20 mountain-based translators serve as low-power, limited-area ]s that bring the network's signal to towns in deep mountain valleys where the parent signal is blocked by the surrounding terrain. The translators of WUNC-TV act as digital replacement translators serving the few areas of the Triangle where WUNC-TV lost over-the-air coverage during the analog-digital conversion in 2009. | ||
| {| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
| Line 421: | Line 421: | ||
| | {{coord|35|56|16|N|82|17|48|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|name=W35CO-D}} | | {{coord|35|56|16|N|82|17|48|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|name=W35CO-D}} | ||
| | Former call signs W27BF, W67AQ and W67DV. | | Former call signs W27BF, W67AQ and W67DV. | ||
| |- style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;" | |||
| | '''''' | |||
| | ] | |||
| | 42 (UHF) | |||
| | 0.6 kW | |||
| | {{convert|539|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} | |||
| | 168590 | |||
| | {{coord|35|07|54|N|82|59|01|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|name=W42DF-D}} | |||
| | | |||
| |- style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;" | |- style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;" | ||
| | '''''' | | '''''' | ||
| Line 439: | Line 430: | ||
| | {{coord|35|24|47|N|83|30|02|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|name=W46AX-D}} | | {{coord|35|24|47|N|83|30|02|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|name=W46AX-D}} | ||
| | Former call signs W46AX and W67AV. | | Former call signs W46AX and W67AV. | ||
| |- style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;" | |||
| | '''''' | |||
| | ] | |||
| | 47 (UHF) | |||
| | 1 kW | |||
| | {{convert|-138|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} | |||
| | 69388 | |||
| | {{coord|35|18|12|N|83|10|40|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|name=W47DM-D}} | |||
| | Former call sign W23AF. | |||
| |- style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;" | |- style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;" | ||
| |colspan="8" style="text-align: center"|'''Direct repeaters of WUNG-TV''' | |colspan="8" style="text-align: center"|'''Direct repeaters of WUNG-TV''' | ||
| Line 507: | Line 489: | ||
| | Former call signs W46AG, W27AO, W65DT, and W41DL-D | | Former call signs W46AG, W27AO, W65DT, and W41DL-D | ||
| |} | |} | ||
| The licenses for translators in ] (W42DF-D) and ] (W47DM-D) were surrendered to the ] and cancelled on October 27, 2021. | |||
| ==Cable and satellite carriage== | ==Cable and satellite carriage== | ||
Revision as of 15:29, 19 December 2021
PBS member state network in North Carolina| File:PBS North Carolina logo.png | |
| |
|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Branding | PBS NC |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | PBS (1970–present) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | University of North Carolina |
| History | |
| First air date | January 8, 1955 (69 years ago) (1955-01-08) |
| Former affiliations | NET (1955–1970) |
| Call sign meaning | University of North Carolina Fourth letter in callsign varies depending on the station |
| Technical information | |
| Facility ID | see table below |
| ERP | see table below |
| HAAT | see table below |
| Transmitter coordinates | see table below |
| Links | |
| Website | www.pbsnc.org |
The University of North Carolina Center for Public Media, branded on-air as PBS North Carolina or commonly PBS NC, is a public television network serving the state of North Carolina. It is operated by the University of North Carolina system, which holds the licenses for all but one of the thirteen PBS member television stations licensed in the state—WTVI (channel 42) in Charlotte is owned by Central Piedmont Community College. The broadcast signals of the twelve television stations cover almost all of the state, as well as parts of Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The network's operations are located at the UNC Center for Public Television at Research Triangle Park between Raleigh and Durham.
History
WUNC-TV in Chapel Hill, the state network's flagship station, first signed on the air on January 8, 1955 as the second non-commercial educational television station located south of Washington, D.C.—one day after Cheaha, Alabama-licensed WCIQ-TV. Over the next twelve years, four more satellite stations signed on. WUND-TV in Edenton (originally WUNB-TV, licensed to Columbia) was the first of these satellites to debut on September 10, 1965, followed by the launches of WUNE-TV in Linville, WUNF-TV in Asheville, and WUNG-TV in Concord—all on September 11, 1967, and WUNJ-TV in Wilmington on June 4, 1971. This was supplemented with a network of translator stations in the Appalachian Mountains that also allowed the network's programming to reach across the entire state.
Five additional satellites debuted afterward: WUNK-TV in Greenville in May 1972, WUNL-TV in Winston-Salem in February 1973, WUNM-TV in Jacksonville in November 1982, WUNP-TV in Roanoke Rapids in October 1986, and WUNU-TV in Lumberton in September 1996. The state network's youngest station, WUNW in Canton, signed on in July 2010 to replace a translator that had served the area since the 1980s. The state network was branded on-air as North Carolina Public Television from 1979 to the mid-1990s, when it rebranded itself as University of North Carolina Television. It simplified the brand name to UNC-TV later in the 1990s; it had previously used that brand for most of the 1970s. On January 12, 2021, in recognition of PBS' growing online content delivery, the state network rebranded itself as "PBS North Carolina," while continuing to acknowledge its ties to the university system as being "Powered by the UNC System".
Programming
The state network produces many programs of local interest, including the weeknightly public affairs program North Carolina Now, Our State, Carolina Outdoor Journal, Exploring North Carolina, North Carolina Bookwatch with D. G. Martin, and special programs about the state's history and culture. It also produces The Woodwright's Shop, Growing a Greener World, The Zula Patrol, and Song of the Mountains for national distribution. In addition to PBS and American Public Television programs and local productions, the station also runs programming from the United Kingdom, including "Britcoms" on Saturday evenings and the soap opera EastEnders on Sunday evenings. In the 1990s, UNC-TV introduced "Read-A-Roo," a kangaroo used as the mascot for the network's children's programming. PBS North Carolina airs its own public affairs programming on Sunday mornings.
Stations
PBS NC operates twelve stations that relay its programming across the entire state as well as into portions of Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Each station's callsign consists of "UN" for the University of North Carolina, followed by a letter assigned sequentially in the order in which it was activated, except for the first station.
Map all coordinates using OpenStreetMapDownload coordinates as:
Notes:
- 1. Aside from their transmitters, the network's stations (except WUNC-TV) do not maintain any physical presence in their cities of license.
- 2. WUND-TV formerly used the callsign WUNB-TV from its 1965 inception to 1967.
- 3. WUND-TV was originally licensed to Columbia; the license was moved to Edenton in 2005, effectively gaining must-carry rights in the Norfolk–Newport News–Portsmouth television market, which includes several northeastern North Carolina counties.
- 4. WUNE-TV formerly used the callsign WUND-TV during its construction permit from 1966 to 1967.
- 5. WUNF-TV formerly used the callsign WVLE during its construction permit from 1966 to 1967.
- 6. Five commercial television stations in the Wilmington media market began transmitting solely in digital on September 8, 2008. WUNJ-TV was required to continue analog broadcasts until the national digital television transition on June 12, 2009, as it was the official conduit of emergency information in the Wilmington area.
Digital television
Digital channels
PBS NC's current over-the-air digital configuration, which is multiplexed among three subchannels, was introduced on September 25, 2008. On that date, UNC-TV revised its subchannel lineup on its stations, reducing the number of channels to three: UNC-TV (the main channel of each station, which now carries high definition programming), and the standard definition-only services UNC-KD and UNC-EX ("The Explorer Channel"). UNC-TV HD and UNC-EX are also available to DirecTV customers with MPEG4-compatible receivers. Prior to February 1, 2016, Time Warner Cable customers also received UNC-MX (described as "an eclectic mix of programming for adults") in standard definition; the North Carolina Channel has since replaced UNC-MX on Time Warner Cable systems. Prior to November 1, 2009, the third subchannel was named UNC-NC.
This configuration is used for WUNC, WUND, WUNF, WUNG, WUNJ, WUNK, WUNL, and WUNU:
| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | PBS NC | Main PBS NC programming |
| xx.2 | 480i | ROOTLE | PBS Kids Channel | |
| xx.3 | UNC-EX | The Explorer Channel | ||
| xx.4 | NCCHL | The North Carolina Channel |
An alternate configuration is used for WUNE, WUNM, WUNP, and WUNW. The original purpose for this was to obtain must-carry status for UNC-KD since those are secondary stations in their respective markets. On June 15, 2010, UNC-KD switched subchannels with UNC-EX on the four stations previously mentioned, which transferred UNC-KD's must-carry status to UNC-EX.
| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx.1 | 480i | 16:9 | UNC-EX | The Explorer Channel |
| xx.2 | 1080i | PBS NC | Main PBS NC programming | |
| xx.3 | 480i | ROOTLE | PBS Kids Channel | |
| xx.4 | NCCHL | The North Carolina Channel |
Subscribers of Charter Communications, the major cable provider in the state, can receive each of the PBS NC digital subchannels. Time Warner Cable built a direct-fiber optic connection to PBS NC's studios in RTP, a connection inherited by Charter when it merged with Time Warner Cable in 2016. Cable providers with a direct fiber optic link to PBS NC (including Charter) also carry UNC-MX (formerly UNC-ED) on their digital tiers. UNC-MX features a mix of how-to and public affairs programs, along with encore presentations of programs originally broadcast on the primary PBS NC channel. Cable providers which rely on off-air reception for broadcast stations are limited to the four-channel lineup. On February 1, 2016, UNC-MX was renamed UNC-NC "The North Carolina Channel" and was added over-the-air on subchannel 4 on both channel configurations. On July 2, 2016, UNC-KD was rebranded as ROOTLE.
Prior to September 25, 2008, UNC-TV formerly operated four digital channels: in addition to the main signal on the primary channel, the second digital subchannel of each station carried UNC-HD (which carried PBS and regional programming in high-definition), the third subchannel carried UNC-KD (which carried children's programs), the fourth subchannel carried UNC-ED (an educational television service) and the fifth subchannel carried UNC-NC (centering on North Carolina public affairs and original local productions). Due to bandwidth limitations at the time, the over-the-air feed of UNC-HD was only available between 8-11 p.m., during which UNC-ED and UNC-NC ceased transmission in the interim. Cable systems with a direct fiber link to UNC-TV facilities aired all five channels on a 24-hour schedule.
On April 16, 2018, WRAY and WLXI were merged onto WUNC's spectrum, after parent company Tri-State Christian Television (TCT) sold the stations' individual bandwidth in the 2016 FCC incentive auction. WUNC is the only station in the 12-station network that has a channel sharing agreement.
Analog-to-digital conversion
PBS NC's stations shut down their analog signals on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital channel allocations pre- and post-transition are as follows:
| Call Letters | Initial Analog Channel |
Pre-Transition Digital Channel |
Post-Transition Digital Channel |
FCC Repack Plan (2017) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WUNC | 4 | 59 | 25 | 20 |
| WUND | 2 | 20 | 20 | 29 |
| WUNE | 17 | 54 | 17 | 36 |
| WUNF | 33 | 25 | 25 | 20 |
| WUNG | 58 | 44 | 44 | 21 |
| WUNJ | 39 | 29 | 29 | 21 |
| WUNK | 25 | 23 | 23 | 25 |
| WUNL | 26 | 32 | 32 | 33 |
| WUNM | 19 | 18 | 19 | 28 |
| WUNP | 36 | 39 | 36 | 27 |
| WUNU | 31 | 25 | 31 | 30 |
| WUNW | — | — | 27 | 27 |
All channels retained their original numbering for display to viewers via PSIP.
UNC-TV opted not to join other broadcasters in the Wilmington market in an early switch to digital-only broadcasts on September 8, 2008, nine months ahead of the national transition deadline. Following that date, WUNJ-TV became only full-power station in Wilmington that continued to broadcast an analog signal until the national digital transition on June 12, 2009.
ATSC 3.0
On March 22, 2021, WUNC-TV began broadcasting in ATSC 3.0, with a 1080p stream (virtual channel 4.11) on Capitol Broadcasting Company's host station WARZ-CD (now WNGT-CD). On June 29, 2021, WUNK-TV was converted to ATSC 3.0 with all sub-channels included. While a simulcast of WUNK-TV will be shared on WUNM-TV, areas outside WUNM-TV will also be covered by other nearby network stations, thus the conversion will not result in any loss of over-the-air PBS service.
Translators
PBS NC operates 22 translators. Each translator is assigned to the license of a parent PBS NC full-power station, all of which simulcast the same network signal. Two directly repeat WUNC-TV, three directly repeat WUNE-TV, two directly repeat WUNG-TV, three directly repeat WUNL-TV, and 12 directly repeat WUNF-TV.
The 20 mountain-based translators serve as low-power, limited-area repeaters that bring the network's signal to towns in deep mountain valleys where the parent signal is blocked by the surrounding terrain. The translators of WUNC-TV act as digital replacement translators serving the few areas of the Triangle where WUNC-TV lost over-the-air coverage during the analog-digital conversion in 2009.
The licenses for translators in Cashiers (W42DF-D) and Cullowhee (W47DM-D) were surrendered to the Federal Communications Commission and cancelled on October 27, 2021.
Cable and satellite carriage
PBS NC is carried on all cable television providers in North Carolina. In Georgia, Kinetic TV carries WUNF in Blairsville. In South Carolina, Charter Spectrum carries WUNF in Greenville and Spartanburg, and WUNJ in Conway and Myrtle Beach. In Tennessee, Charter Spectrum carries WUNE and SkyBest TV carries WUNL, in Mountain City. In Virginia, WUND is carried by Cox Communications and Xfinity in the southern portion of the Hampton Roads market, WUNL is carried by Chatmoss Cablevision and Xfinity in Danville, and WUNP is carried on Xfinity in South Boston and South Hill.
On AT&T U-verse, DirecTV, and Dish Network, WUNC-TV, WUNG, WUNL, WUNF, WUND, WUNJ, and WUNU are carried on the respective local feeds for the Research Triangle, Charlotte, the Piedmont Triad, Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville, Hampton Roads, Wilmington, and Florence/Myrtle Beach markets. In previous years, WUNL has also been carried on the Roanoke DirecTV feed; the Piedmont Triad market includes portions of western Virginia.
See also
References
- "New Name. Same Public Media You Trust. Coming January 2021". UNC-TV. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
- "FCC History Cards for WUNE-TV".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - "FCC History Cards for WUNF-TV" (PDF).
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - "Exclusive News for Facebook Fans like April Green: UNC-TV Announces an Exciting New Service Coming on November 1...UNC-EX". October 2, 2009. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
- "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- UNC-TV Presents...UNC-EX The Explorer Channel Retrieved 2009-11-03.
- "Charlotte, NC - OTA".
- "Power Outage Problem - Help". DBSTalk Community.
- "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- "Ask SAM: Are chickens allowed in the city?". Winston-Salem Journal. January 23, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
- Caine, Brooke (July 1, 2016). "UNC-TV launches Rootle, a new statewide 24-hour channel for kids". News & Observer. Raleigh, NC. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
- "Channel Sharing Transition PSA and Crawl Regarding WRAY, Channel 42, Wilson, NC" (PDF). FCC. April 16, 2018. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
- "Channel Sharing Transition PSA and Crawl Regarding WLXI, Channel 43, Randleman, NC" (PDF). FCC. April 16, 2018. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
- "UNCTV - FAQs". UNCTV. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
- "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
- "RabbitEars.Info: Repack Plan for UNC-TV". April 13, 2017. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
- Miller, Mark (March 25, 2021). "PBS North Carolina Launches NextGen TV". TV News Check. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
- "Modification to License (Next Gen) - LMS File No. 0000124910". FCC LMS. 7 April 2021.
- Restauro, Dennis (June 28, 2021). "NextGen TV: What TV Viewers Need to Know About ATSC 3.0". Grounded Reason. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
- "BMPEDT-20100908AAI". September 17, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
- "BDRTET-20090428AAE". July 22, 2009. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-05-02. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
