TV Q&A: Why are some stations’ digital subchannels on cable but not others?

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review.

Q: Why are some of the local stations’ subchannels carried on cable (Comcast) but others are not? I can’t see any rhyme or reason and I don’t think it has anything to do with capacity. For example, I don’t think Catchy, Bounce or Movies! are on cable at this time. Not sure if any of them are worth viewing, but idle minds tend to wander …

— Jim, Mt. Lebanon

Rob: The Federal Communications Commission rules say cable systems “must carry” local TV stations’ primary channel (e.g. Channel 4.1, Channel 11.1, Channel 13.1). Those “must carry” requirements do not extend to stations’ multicast digital subchannels (e.g. Channel 11.2, Channel 11.3, etc.).

The reason that it seems catch as catch can is because it is: TV stations negotiate individually with cable systems when it comes to whether or not cable systems will carry local digital subchannels. And in some cases, these so-called “diginets” make their own deals for nationwide carriage as MeTV (Channel 11.2) has done with access to the channel on DirecTV’s Choice package and above as well as streaming TV providers DirecTV Stream, Frndly TV and Philo TV.

Consult the cable/satellite company you subscribe to to identify which over-the-air digital subchannels are available on their system. Another way to find carriage is to do a Google search of “where to watch” a channel and the channel’s website usually has a page where you can input your zip code and a local carriage list is generated.

Q: Your last TV Q&A column addressed a question about glaring errors with local TV stations’ misspellings in their on-screen graphics. What happened during the Oscars on ABC? During the segment recognizing the nominees for best original screenplay, clips from the films were played with the text overlayed on the screen. Among them was a clip from “Maestro” where the on-screen text said, “I’m reigning it in.” As anyone with a high school education knows, the word is spelled “reining” (as in reining in a horse), not “reigning” (which is what a king or queen does). How did such a blatant error make it onto the broadcast and am I the only one who noticed it?

— Mark, Squirrel Hill

Rob: I’m too distracted writing my Oscars column to pay rapt attention during clip packages in awards shows so I did not notice the error and I didn’t hear from anyone else who noticed it. My best guess is someone just made a mistake (or if they took it directly from the film’s script, then the screenwriter initiated the error).

On the subject of local TV news typos, I did receive some valuable insight from former WPGH-TV news director John Poister.

“One of the main reasons we are seeing more of these lately is because of the change in the way graphics are handled,” Poister explained. “In ‘the olden days,’ reporters and producers filled out graphic request sheets that were then sent to the art department where names, locations and other information got input to chyron by members of the art department. They acted as a ‘last line of defense’ to prevent typos. Even then some would get through. Now reporters type the information directly into the system. Unless an alert associate producer, producer or director spots the typo in the preview monitor, it will likely get on the air.”

Q: I really enjoyed this first episode of “Elsbeth” that aired Feb. 29, but what is CBS thinking not airing another episode until April 4?

— Patrick, via Facebook

Rob: There are several factors at play. First, production on episodes after the pilot only began after the strike, so probably late last year. It takes about nine days to film a one-hour broadcast network drama so there’s the issue of needing time to produce enough episodes so they have the chance to air without interruption.

Second, CBS had the State of the Union and March Madness pre-empting Thursday night programming this month.

So why not just start airing episodes on April 4? CBS wanted to leverage the promotional platform of the Super Bowl to promote the show and probably didn’t want to wait from that airdate in February until April to air the first episode. Additionally, “Elsbeth” has a 10-episode order and there are not 10 weeks between April 4 and the end of the TV season the third week of May. That’s probably why CBS announced it will now air two episodes at 9 (guest-starring Linda Lavin and Jane Karkowski) and 10 p.m. (guest-starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson) on April 4.

We’ve seen premieres-disconnected-from-series-rollout launches several times in recent years and surprisingly, it seems to work. “Abbott Elementary” debuted in December and the series followed in January. More recently NBC used the same strategy with “Extended Family,” premiering in December and not airing weekly episodes until January.