25 to 66 for over the air viewers

[hb2]

Reason being so that the retransmission agreements with cable and telecom companies will be made directly by Sinclair as the owner of the Big 4 network affiliate. Cable and other companies negotiate with the station owners, so with WEYI being officially owned by Howard Stirk Holdings (HSH), Comcast and Charter Spectrum are in agreements with HSH and not Sinclair directly.

All I see here is $$$$$, $$$$$, and more $$$$$$$ for Sinclair

Although if they keep 1.0 on the actual WEYI transmitter(Clio site) and put NBC '25.1' on the WSMH signal (Chesaning site) would they put the subchannels 25.2, 25.3, etc. on the WEYI signal's PSIP (from Clio site) or would they change the virtual channel number and/or try to change call sign of the old 25?

They do not mention a move of The CW from the Clio site so maybe they might keep it 1.0 for now as The CW being primary HD channel and maybe make the PSIP be 46 (old WBSF numbers) out of Clio? Maybe with PSIP some channels be 25.2, 25.3, etc and some be 46.1, 46.2, 46.3, etc, all from Clio site with 25.1 being transmitted from the WSMH transmitter (Chesaning site) so that Sinclair can rake in their retransmission fees? Wonder if they can pull that one off?

All stuff to speculate. Hope that all made sense, time will only tell what happens in this region

[GrahamWellington]

Regardless of branding, based on the details here this essentially makes WSMH the NBC affiliate, correct?

[organman95]

Regardless of branding, based on the details here this essentially makes WSMH the NBC affiliate, correct?

That's my understanding. So in effect, like WBKB having all four networks in Alpena.

[MWmetalhead]

Thanks everyone for the info. Very interesting strategy in terms of maximizing retrans revenue.

The good news is the live streaming video providers (YouTube TV, Fubo, Sling, etc.) negotiate national deals directly with the networks, so Sinclair's brinkmanship will have no bearing on rates charged by those services to end users. Hopefully, the switchover to 66.2 will be seamless for local viewers who rely on those services.

[KeenerGoldv2.0]

WBSF since 2022 has been transmitting in 3.0 as a simulcast of all the major networks 1.0 broadcasts. It is probably not receivable on 99% (figuratively) of receivers within range of it due to compatibility constraints between 1.0 and 3.0.

Looking at the Wikipedia, they have additional subchannels on WBSF's 3.0 signal that I don't think are available on 1.0 in the area (quite frankly I'd never heard of them before, check out the WBSF wiki page). Plus these non-simulcast subchannels all appear to be in 1080p HD as well

Edit: As for signal losses between 25 and 66, they are substantial. Looking at the longley-rice maps on rabbiteats.info for these stations, WEYI has at least marginal coverage all the way to Lake Huron and a trace signal into Sarnia, Ontario. Only a small 'dead zone' in the far northeastern thumb. WSMH, on the other hand, the signal is pretty spotty along M-53 (Van Dyke) and drops off to the east around M-19. NBC and The CW OTA is going to get very challenging to impossible in St. Clair, Sanilac, and Huron counties

I'm in central St. Clair County, just north of the Macomb County line. I get excellent reception on WEYI, WJRT, and WBSF 3.0 on the aerial. WSMH is sketchy at best, and I've never pulled in WNEM, or WDCQ for that matter.

[hb2]

Regardless of branding, based on the details here this essentially makes WSMH the NBC affiliate, correct?

That's my understanding. So in effect, like WBKB having all four networks in Alpena.

Quoting what another user linked to yesterday:

25.1 WEYIDT is switching to ROAR.

This indicates that NBC likely wont be called NBC25 anymore, time will tell what the new branding could become (NBC 66.2? There already is Fox66). So basically going off that quote yes WSMH is the new NBC affiliate in this region and WEYI will still be WEYI 25 but as a ROAR affiliate on main channel not NBC. I know ROAR is a Sinclair subchannel but maybe they can charge a few cents more on retransmission for ROAR to be in HD versus SD... another potential side perk of all this.

[hb2]

WBSF since 2022 has been transmitting in 3.0 as a simulcast of all the major networks 1.0 broadcasts. It is probably not receivable on 99% (figuratively) of receivers within range of it due to compatibility constraints between 1.0 and 3.0.

Looking at the Wikipedia, they have additional subchannels on WBSF's 3.0 signal that I don't think are available on 1.0 in the area (quite frankly I'd never heard of them before, check out the WBSF wiki page). Plus these non-simulcast subchannels all appear to be in 1080p HD as well

Edit: As for signal losses between 25 and 66, they are substantial. Looking at the longley-rice maps on rabbiteats.info for these stations, WEYI has at least marginal coverage all the way to Lake Huron and a trace signal into Sarnia, Ontario. Only a small 'dead zone' in the far northeastern thumb. WSMH, on the other hand, the signal is pretty spotty along M-53 (Van Dyke) and drops off to the east around M-19. NBC and The CW OTA is going to get very challenging to impossible in St. Clair, Sanilac, and Huron counties

I'm in central St. Clair County, just north of the Macomb County line. I get excellent reception on WEYI, WJRT, and WBSF 3.0 on the aerial. WSMH is sketchy at best, and I've never pulled in WNEM, or WDCQ for that matter.

I was just going off of the computer generated reception maps. As per the map, there are losses.

I do know in real life, tv and radio signals sometimes naturally go farther than normal in 'quiet' areas away from transmitters and interference. So yes some people in St.Clair, Sanilac, and Huron counties can probably still get WSMH and WEYI but admittedly WSMH is farther away and is going to be more challenging to lock in than WEYI. Although most people out in this area probably have their tricks nailed down already to get Fox66 in OTA so might not be a problem for most with the right equipment.

[hb2]

https://midmichigannow.com/news/local/a ... 12-10-2025

UPDATE: We are working with Charter Spectrum on a technical difficulty related to the broadcast of the channel. The issue is being investigated.

Funny how 'seamless' this was supposed to be particularly for cable/ satellite viewers.

The old saying goes 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' applies here real good right about now.

[audiophile]

Subchannels are not must carry.

[hb2]

Subchannels are not must carry.

That's true. Wonder how NBC feels right now being kicked off a primary channel to a secondary subchannel in this market?

[matt1]

Channel 5 or channel 779 (NOT 780 which is channel 4 WEYID) on Spectrum & also channel 197 (formerly Antenna TV)!!

[organman95]

Subchannels are not must carry.

That's true. Wonder how NBC feels right now being kicked off a primary channel to a secondary subchannel in this market?

What do you think the chances are that NBC could/would sue Sinclair? Or maybe just drop the affiliate agreement?

[matt1]

Channel 181 WBSF is now Antenna TV (classic shows which was channel 197).

[hb2]

Subchannels are not must carry.

That's true. Wonder how NBC feels right now being kicked off a primary channel to a secondary subchannel in this market?

What do you think the chances are that NBC could/would sue Sinclair? Or maybe just drop the affiliate agreement?

Its not 0% but not guranteed either. As long as the cable problems continue I'd say NBC would probably get threatening with Sinclair 1st about suing, then sue them, and if still no resolve then drop the affiliation and potentially seek elsewhere. However:

WEYI had NBC on the XX.1 channel of 25. All the other local OTA stations in this market have XX.1 channels with major networks. If moved off of WEYI (already done), NBC will now have to reside on a XX.2 or higher subchannel. Unless say WSMH later swaps FOX and NBC on the 66.1 and 66.2 channels, they may satisfy NBC and tick off FOX (and maybe lose that affiliation). As we know, NBC is on 66.2 now and I'm sure NBC probably isn't too keen about it since WEYI now has a wide open 25.1 running Sinclair's ROAR network that has long been home to where NBC took to the airwaves. I think Sinclair is potentially bringing on an avoidable battle moving NBC off WEYI.

Unless WJRT or WNEM somehow lose their primary affiliations with ABC or CBS respectively, NBC likely won't be on a XX.1 channel OTA in this market anytime soon. WJRT and WNEM have local news crews and could be possible contenders for NBC should Sinclair lose the NBC affiliation. This would be identical setup to WSMH unless WJRT or WNEM kick their current primary affiliations to their XX.2(+) channels and risk consequences there.

WAQP is very unlikely since they are religious owned but do air non religious subchannels with external ownership so if they somehow wind up with NBC they would not have a local newsroom to accompany it and it would strictly be NBC network programming only. NBC probably prefers for their affiliates to have local newsrooms wherever possible so that is very unlikely to occur

WDCQ is a non starter as a PBS station.

Unless someone maybe 'signs on' a new tv 'station' with a new call sign under a channel sharing agreement with any of the stations here and dumps NBC on the XX.1 channel(if Sinclair loses the affiliation), they are in a pinch (unless who knows maybe NBC doesn't mind being a secondary subchannel network? I wrote this in the mindset they want to be a xx.1 network)

[ftballfan]

In Charleston, SC, ABC has been on 36.2 since 2014 while 36.1 airs MyNetworkTV. I'm a little surprised ABC hasn't moved to 36.1, especially since it picked up the calls of the former ABC affiliate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCIV