Antenna TV bounced in Buffalo and more news for a New Year

[Sal]

In what must have seemed like a bad New Year's hangover for TV viewers in the Buffalo, NY area (the closest US city to my house), on New Year's Eve around 3 pm, WGRZ-TV Channel 2 (NBC) introduced a new digital sub-channel called "Storm Team 2 WeatherNation". Yes, that's right. A new TV station in Buffalo devoted exclusively to local weather. (Insert bad joke here! )

Unfortunately, the new station comes at the expense of Antenna TV, which will now be moved down in the pecking order. The new WeatherNation channel will take up Antenna TV's old antenna number at 2.2, while Antenna TV is now at 2.3, which might lead to a poorer signal overall. I can see the need for this at this time of year, where it seems like bad snowstorms are becoming a weekly occurrence on both sides of the border, but once the snow is gone for good and the weather improves in general, what's the whole point? It's very inconvenient and totally unnecessary, in my opinion.

Buffalo News story


In much happier news, a New Year and a new month mean changes to TV lineups all across North America, not only with new primetime midseason premieres, but also for a few specialty channels as well. Here are a few examples:

Deja View - Premiere episodes of "Married With Children" (4 and 4:30 pm) and "Quantum Leap" (11 am) begin tomorrow.

Teletoon Retro - The not-quite retro enough "Johnny Bravo" joins the schedule at 9:30 pm following another former Cartoon Network favourite "Dexter's Laboratory" at 9.

CTS - "The Cosby Show" replaces "The Partridge Family" at 6:00 pm in Ontario. The Alberta stations get "The Andy Griffith Show" in its place plus "Bonanza" and "Little House On The Prairie" on weekends. This gives them both a stronger lineup overall:

CTS Calgary

Weekdays

3:30 PM Andy Griffith
4:00 Beverly Hillbillies
4:30 The Lucy Show
5:00 The Waltons
6:00 Andy Griffith
6:30 Popcorn TV
7:00 Gilmore Girls
8:00 Cosby Show
8:30 The Lucy Show

Sundays

9:00 PM Little House on the Prairie
10:00 Bonanza

CTS Edmonton

Weekdays

3:30 Beverly Hillbillies
4:00 The Lucy Show
4:30 Cosby Show
5:00 The Waltons
6:00 Partridge Family
6:30 Popcorn TV
7:00 Gilmore Girls
8:00 The West Wing

Sundays

9:00 PM Little House on the Prairie
10:00 Bonanza

[boechsner]

It may be unnecessary, however in the US, it is very common. Where I live, in Wisconsin, every television market in the state has a digital channel devoted strictly to weather.

Honestly, I wonder what took Buffalo so long?