Primetime 24
Primetime 24 (PT24) is a special package offered on C band satellite sent out to viewers who mainly live in Latin America, the Caribbean, and very rural areas of the United States and Canada; urban areas could receive the package as well, though reception is subject to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) restrictions in areas where local affiliates are available. The package consists of local ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates on the East Coast: WPLG Miami (ABC), WSEE-TV Erie, Pennsylvania (CBS), WUTV Buffalo, New York (Fox) and WTVJ Miami (NBC). The service is broadcast via the AMC-3 satellite, encrypted using DigiCipher 2 and receivable with eligible 4DTV satellite receivers. The service is currently owned by Lorac Communications, based in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada.
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[edit] History
When Primetime 24 first started[when?], the group originally consisted of:
In 1994, however, the two Chicago stations were replaced with WRAL-TV Raleigh, North Carolina for CBS and WSVN Miami for Fox; by 1997, PT24 dropped Fox, and WRAL, due to many pre-emptions of CBS programming, was replaced with WSEE, which has been PT24's CBS affiliate ever since. WABC and WXIA still remained the ABC and NBC (respectively) affiliates for PT24 through 2008; however, for a time, WABC was replaced with WJLA-TV of Washington, D.C. and later WKRN-TV of Nashville, Tennessee; WXIA was replaced with WNBC of New York City. WABC was dropped in favor of WPLG on January 1, 2009, and the NBC affiliate (WXIA) was dropped entirely.
NBC and Fox service was restored some time in 2009, with the addition of WUTV and WTVJ.
[edit] Other time zones
At one point, PT24 offered a package called "The Denver 5", featuring that city's KMGH-TV (ABC), KCNC-TV (CBS), KUSA (NBC), KDVR (Fox), and even a PBS station, KRMA. At one point, WB affiliate KWGN-TV was added to the mix.
Stations on the West Coast were also included in the late '90s and early 2000s, featuring Seattle, Washington's KOMO-TV (ABC), San Francisco's KPIX-TV (CBS), and Los Angeles' KNBC (NBC).
[edit] Similar packages
- Netlink offered a network package called "A3" for a time that included WPLG (ABC), WUSA-TV Washington (CBS), and WBZ-TV Boston for NBC (later replaced with WHDH-TV, following the 1995 affiliation change).
- Before PT24 began, a package called "Atlantic Coast" was used, which included WPLG, WUSA and WBZ, plus WTXF-TV from Philadelphia for Fox.
- In the early days of direct broadcast satellite, many companies offered local channels on a nationwide basis, subject to FCC restrictions: PrimeStar offered WSB-TV Atlanta for ABC, plus, WUSA, WHDH and WTXF, plus a national PBS service. West Coast channels included KABC-TV from Los Angeles for ABC, KOIN from Portland, Oregon for CBS, KCRA-TV from Sacramento for NBC, and KTVU from San Francisco for Fox. DirecTV offered WRAL-TV (Raleigh, North Carolina and KPIX (San Francisco) for CBS, KNBC (Los Angeles) for NBC, KOMO-TV (Seattle) and WJLA (Washington, DC) for ABC, and WNET for PBS.
- In the US, Dish Network and DirecTV still offer local channels nationally as well, where local service is not available terrestrially or on satellite. In Canada, Bell TV and Shaw Direct offer US networks on their services, as do most cable systems, though American commercial stations are subject to simultaneous substitution regulations.
[edit] External links
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