NBC replaces Weather Plus with Universal Sports
If you thought for one second that when Weather Plus was killed that NBC was going to actually dedicate all of its allotted bits to bring you the HD you desire -- sans all the macro-blocking -- think again. We are glad that NBC learned that there aren't many people interested in yet another weather outlet, but evidently the next at bat is a 24/7 sports channel that's already available in some NBC Universal owned and operated affiliates. Universal Sports will consist of 2400 hours of live sports coverage a year combined with 5000 hours of classic sports replays. The local stations will also be able to air a few of its own commercials as well as some local sports and sports related programming, which might be cool. Although we recognize the desire of DTV stations to find profitable uses for its extra bits, we don't approve if it interferes with the main programming. So this combined with NBC's recent track record in sports has us very skeptical -- you know messing up Football Night in America and things like the 12 hour Olympic sports delays.





















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Phil @ Oct 14th 2008 7:59PM
It makes sense given how much sports they show on universal hd (Skating,MMA,Boxing,Football).
D. Aselin @ Oct 14th 2008 9:01PM
It's unfortunate they are taking the weather channel off ? We have been leaving this channel on at our business (Weather Channel) and do get a lot of positive feedback from customers.
There is already enough sports venues out there on TV/Cable for people to watch either FREE or by subscription.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Oct 14th 2008 9:21PM
Screw you NBC. You could have instead improved your main content. Now you stick us with more junk.
anseK @ Oct 14th 2008 9:51PM
NOOOOO!!!!! Why would they do this. The people at NBC just don't get it.
jordan @ Oct 14th 2008 10:10PM
its all about money money money
joe1234 @ Oct 15th 2008 4:20AM
This is totally screwed up. How much bandwidth is this subchannel going to use 4-5 Megabits. (Sarcasm Begins)Yeah, real wise NBC use a subchannel to show the thing that screws up digital TV the Most, SPORTS bunch of IDIOTS!!!(Sarcasm ends)
Right now the NBC Weather Plus SubChannel in my area uses between 1-2.5 Mbps and it looks good. If it were to be replaced with the fast motion of sports, at that bit rate, the encoder would not be able to keep up, the subchannel would macrobock like crazy. Everything would look like it's made of Legos.
Chad @ Oct 15th 2008 12:17PM
Everything in my house is made of legos.
yri @ Oct 15th 2008 1:52PM
YES!!!!!!!!! MORE SPORTS!!!!!!!!! Who watched this channel anyways I think this is better.
James @ Oct 16th 2008 5:24AM
So what happens to areas that already get both the weather and sports NBC subchannels? Will they get merged? Will one of them be replaced with something else?