Speaking of awkward sets, I've always found KCRG CBS 2 in Iowa City/Cedar Rapids to have one of the oddest designs in the US:
...
Most of the set is actually just a printed backdrop! KCRG is also of note for broadcasting CBS in 720p, rather than the normal 1080i for CBS affiliates.
The CBS affiliate for Iowa City is KGAN. According to Wikipedia the reason why KGAN runs CBS in 720p is because of their master control facilities. They are part of a duopoly with Fox station KFXA which runs at 720p. Additionally Sinclair runs small master control hubs for stations within a region - if the region operates predominately Fox and MyNetwork operations (Sinclair owns or operates a lot of Fox and MyNet stations) it may be reasonable that when they were setting things up they made it a 720p plant back when things weren't as cross compatible.
I deleted a previous paragraph because it ended up being wrong. Here in Baltimore, Sinclair's Headquarters, when they signed on HD they had two stations WBFF (Fox) and WNUV (CW). Both stations at the time broadcast at their respective networks resolutions: 720p and 1080i. (
I originally said WNUV signed on at 720p so that it would be simpler to work with one standard - as Sinclair is a company that standardizes equipment.*
) However somewhere down the road WNUV's HD feed was downconverted to 720p. I believe this switch occurred when Sinclair bought WUTB, a MyNetwork station broadcasting at its native 720p, in 2012. I've heard since then that the master control infrastructure at their studios is at capacity and could only handle signals at a maximum of 720p.
That's also not to say that a stations OTA signal maybe downconverted it could air in its native resolution on Cable or Satellite - if cable / satellite companies receive the station from a direct feed. You typically see this when there are two networks on one channel.
*When stations started signing on their digital signals in the late 90s early 2000s station owners wanted groups to follow a template. Their logic was that if the same gear is set up the same way it would be easier to trouble shoot. One such station group was Hearst who upconverted all their ABC stations digital signals to 1080i (just since maybe 2010 they started rolling their ABC stations to 720p).
Last edited by Rkolsen on 30 September 2016 6:58am - 4 times in total
