WPME, Portland Channel 35 launches Visitor's Channel

The digital age of television is finally doing what it was designed to do. And it is happening here in Portland, Maine, for the very first time in the country. Portland, Maine, has a new TV channel and I am so excited.

WPME, Channel 35, has two digital broadcasts. The first is channel 35.1 which is their regular WPME channel. The second, allowed now by the introduction of digital television, is channel 35.2, the Maine Visitors Channel.

The first of its kind in the country, WPME has an agreement with several hotels in Portland and more are being added. WPME put converter boxes in these hotels to ensure that each television in the guest rooms would be able to receive the channel 35.2 signal. This doesn't mean you can't receive the channel. Digital broadcasts by network affiliates (in the case MyNetwork) are free and over the air. Most hotels have not installed digital TVs in all of their room, ergo the reason why WPME had to provide the converter boxes.

If you have a Digital TV with an antenna, or an Analog TV with an antenna and a converter box, you will be able to pick up this channel. I get it at my house in Springvale, about 30 or so miles from Portland. Cable TV and Satellite TV don't carry the channel so over the air is the only way to get it.

Produced in Portland, Maine, by WPME, they have designed a new network for tourists or visitors, but it can be just as valuable to Mainers themselves. They highlight everything from current events like festivals, tours, art exhibits, and even the weather forecast; all kinds of things in that genre for people looking for things to do while they are in Portland, or looking for new things to do if you already live here. I just watched a segment on Portland Head Light in Casco Bay, a great destination for visitors and locals with a great view of the bay and classic Maine vistas. It is something that I have never done in the 8 years that I have lived here. Local businesses are also highlighted.

Having separate broadcasts on the same channel (or sub-channel) from one station is part of what digital TV is all about. Most broadcast television stations around the country use their primary channel for digital, high definition programming and their sub-channel for "something else". In this case, a first of its kind, and locally produced, a local visitors network. I think it is pretty cool and WPME is a trail blazer in this respect.

Channel 8, WMTW in Portland already use their sub-channel for an endless loop of news/sports/weather updates. WMTW updates this loop several times a day.

Channel 6, WCSH, was first to use its sub-channel for 24 hour Weather Plus, an NBC owned subsidiary. Weather Plus is carried by many, or most, NBC affiliates on their respective digital sub-channels.

While both WMTW and WCSH got there first, what they did wasn't special. Producing original programming for a niche market is new and different and I respect WPME for really showing what can be done in the new age of digital television. I wish them the best of luck.

WGME - Portland - Still can't figure out HD

For the second time in a week, I had to call WGME, Channel 13 in Portland, Maine, to let them know, gently, that even though they should be broadcasting in high definition, someone didn't "hit the switch".

For those of you who may not be aware, local network broadcasting stations must control their HD programming from the Master Control panel. When HD programming is available from the network feed, they literally flip a switch (like an On/Off switch) to allow HD programming to be broadcast from their tower.

This all happens because local TV stations can't record and play back HD programming. The equipment to do that is very expensive. So they must rely on a person to "flip a switch" when the HD programming starts coming through the network feed so that their tower broadcasts the programming in High Definition.

That's how simple it is. Eventually, when local TV stations get the proper equipment, and most programming is in HD or at least digital format, this won't be an issue.

But until then, TV stations must hire some young kid named Justin, or Kyle, or Jason, or whatever, who's munching on a Kit-Kat bar and downing a Red Bull, to pretend he knows what he's doing.

That's where I come in. I call that station and ask for Justin, ask him to put the Kit-Kat down, and flip the HD switch. It all happens so fast that by the time I get the sentence out of my mouth, it has been fixed, I'm happy, and Justin is embarrassed.

CNN misses the mark on the Shuttle Launch in HD

After touting the splendor of watching a shuttle launch in high definition, during the actual launch on Saturday, May 31, CNN did the unthinkable.

They didn't bother to actually just go full screen HD. Instead the filled the screen up with commentators, graphics, and the ever-present DELEGATE COUNTS.

So those of us with HD, who would have been thrilled to actually watch a launch in full HD, didn't get the chance.

So why did they bother talking about how wonderful and awesome it was going to be in HD if they never leveraged the technology right in front of them to let the viewer actually experience it.

If I were TV Guide, this would definitely show up in the JEERS column.