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Severe Weather & School Closing Alerts

How do tv stations handle this type of information? (December 2015)

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MA
Markymark

If I recall correctly all of the NBC Owned stations are hubbed - where all their non news programming is played out similar to ITV but each station controls their schedules. I believe the hub is the location where the tickers for Today are inserted. The hub I believe also has the ability to put up a simple crawl across the screen. I'm not sure how things like school closings are handled - where the graphics are far more complex than a simple text crawl.


Ah, interesting. One little hotel we stayed in (British term is Bed and Breakfast !) had an HD Direct TV satellite box in the room. I noticed that the three local affiliates were mapped on the EPG to their legacy channel numbers, 2, 5 and 7. I assume Direct TV have geographically defined EPG mapping based on Zip Code registration (the same as Sky here ) ?
IS
Inspector Sands
Yes, and if there's no local affiliate available you get an alternative
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirecTV#Local_channels
MO
Mouseboy33
This article sorta fits in with the current course of this thread.
http://www.annistonstar.com/news/changing-to-alabama-tv-could-switch-off-atlanta-stations-for/article_efe6ebf2-8e4d-11e5-a63d-03ec49283768.html
RK
Rkolsen

If I recall correctly all of the NBC Owned stations are hubbed - where all their non news programming is played out similar to ITV but each station controls their schedules. I believe the hub is the location where the tickers for Today are inserted. The hub I believe also has the ability to put up a simple crawl across the screen. I'm not sure how things like school closings are handled - where the graphics are far more complex than a simple text crawl.


Ah, interesting. One little hotel we stayed in (British term is Bed and Breakfast !) had an HD Direct TV satellite box in the room. I noticed that the three local affiliates were mapped on the EPG to their legacy channel numbers, 2, 5 and 7. I assume Direct TV have geographically defined EPG mapping based on Zip Code registration (the same as Sky here ) ?


DirecTV nor Dish is zip code based like it is in the UK (so a person who lived in Washington DC couldn't change their zip code to watch a Los Angeles station). I believe it's linked to your billing address and the receiver checks it ever so often. DirecTV and Dish use spot beams narrowing the area of a certain station. Unfortunately not all local stations are carried due to satellite capacity or if they are carried they may not be in HD. If your station is not available on satellite they do include an OTA antenna input and if you can't receive it OTA you may get a distant channel. Also the satellite companies do not carry the local sub channels such as MeTV or Decades.

If your curious you can find out what channels are carried on which DirecTV satellite and transponder by viewing this thread over at DBS Talk which will link you to this comprehensive Excel spreadsheet.

Unfortunately I'm not that familiar with Dish Network's operations.

FYI - We also use Bed and Breakfast for small hotels that are essentially homes opened up.
MA
Markymark

If I recall correctly all of the NBC Owned stations are hubbed - where all their non news programming is played out similar to ITV but each station controls their schedules. I believe the hub is the location where the tickers for Today are inserted. The hub I believe also has the ability to put up a simple crawl across the screen. I'm not sure how things like school closings are handled - where the graphics are far more complex than a simple text crawl.


Ah, interesting. One little hotel we stayed in (British term is Bed and Breakfast !) had an HD Direct TV satellite box in the room. I noticed that the three local affiliates were mapped on the EPG to their legacy channel numbers, 2, 5 and 7. I assume Direct TV have geographically defined EPG mapping based on Zip Code registration (the same as Sky here ) ?


DirecTV nor Dish is zip code based like it is in the UK (so a person who lived in Washington DC couldn't change their zip code to watch a Los Angeles station). I believe it's linked to your billing address and the receiver checks it ever so often. DirecTV and Dish use spot beams narrowing the area of a certain station. Unfortunately not all local stations are carried due to satellite capacity or if they are carried they may not be in HD. If your station is not available on satellite they do include an OTA antenna input and if you can't receive it OTA you may get a distant channel. Also the satellite companies do not carry the local sub channels such as MeTV or Decades.

If your curious you can find out what channels are carried on which DirecTV satellite and transponder by viewing this thread over at DBS Talk which will link you to this comprehensive Excel spreadsheet.

Unfortunately I'm not that familiar with Dish Network's operations.

FYI - We also use Bed and Breakfast for small hotels that are essentially homes opened up.


Thanks for the info, I'll have a good poke round it all.

Sounds like the mapping is similar to Sky's here. That's also linked to the billing address post(zip) code, so as over there you can't change your line up without changing your billing address. The FTA platform Freesat is different, you enter your post code into the box, (and any valid post code will work, (which you can change at will))
MO
Mouseboy33
Ok just to bring the thread back on track. Here are some reasons why multiple sources of notification are used to alert parents.
Watch this coverage. Its simply fascinating to watch. Plus the legendary Gary England directs the coverage as the disaster happens in real time.


Moore OK, 2013.
Last edited by Mouseboy33 on 9 December 2015 1:26pm
WW
WW Update
BTW, this is what a televised areal attack warning looked like in Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War:

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