My OperaNot of Local Interest
Friday, January 23, 2009 3:47:21 PM
OK. The editor and wife have gone digital. But OTA ("over the air"). If one wants to record, it takes a bit of skill, since most DVR's presume a signal source, such as a cable box. However, those fancy screens don't have output. If one wants to record Poker After Dark, instead of staying up to watch it at 2:00am to 3:00am, one finds ways.
But that isn't the point of this. The local stations can output more than one signal. Channel 4 does three: The normal (Numbers, Jim Vance news, etc.), a weather map and some commentary, and Universal Sports. It's a fun channel: Advertizing, of course, but seemingly less than the others. It's orientation is the "other" sports: skiing, speed skating, luge, bobsled, cycling, running, and so on. Commentary is good, but not look-at-me flashy. And they show everything. The apprentices, the mediocre, and the winners, too. The events the big networks simply don't do, since they aren't that "popular" outside of the truly dedicated.
The national figure skating championships are going on now. (Having grown up in Colorado Springs, the editor likes figure skating: Think Hayes Alan and David Jenkins, Carol Heiss, Peggy Fleming, and more.) The finals will be shown this weekend. But the preliminaries are on now. Universal Sports is showing some of those, and doesn't have it on their website schedule, as they probably picked it up cheap at the last minute. They show everything. The good, the bad, and the really ugly--the "why are they here" competitors. Since the preliminaries are the winnowing round, there are many of those. The editor and wife saw two of the preliminary rounds when the Worlds were here because someone who paid for the full package sold off the unfancy part on Ebay.
Correction
Numbers isn't on Channel 4. It's on Channel 9. Obviously, the editor doesn't watch that much TV.
But that isn't the point of this. The local stations can output more than one signal. Channel 4 does three: The normal (Numbers, Jim Vance news, etc.), a weather map and some commentary, and Universal Sports. It's a fun channel: Advertizing, of course, but seemingly less than the others. It's orientation is the "other" sports: skiing, speed skating, luge, bobsled, cycling, running, and so on. Commentary is good, but not look-at-me flashy. And they show everything. The apprentices, the mediocre, and the winners, too. The events the big networks simply don't do, since they aren't that "popular" outside of the truly dedicated.
The national figure skating championships are going on now. (Having grown up in Colorado Springs, the editor likes figure skating: Think Hayes Alan and David Jenkins, Carol Heiss, Peggy Fleming, and more.) The finals will be shown this weekend. But the preliminaries are on now. Universal Sports is showing some of those, and doesn't have it on their website schedule, as they probably picked it up cheap at the last minute. They show everything. The good, the bad, and the really ugly--the "why are they here" competitors. Since the preliminaries are the winnowing round, there are many of those. The editor and wife saw two of the preliminary rounds when the Worlds were here because someone who paid for the full package sold off the unfancy part on Ebay.
Correction
Numbers isn't on Channel 4. It's on Channel 9. Obviously, the editor doesn't watch that much TV.
