Channel 1

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This article is about the (now) non-existent North American TV channel. For alternative uses, see Channel One.

In North America, channel 1 is a former broadcast (over-the-air) television channel (44–50 MHz, with visual at 45.25 and aural at 49.75).

Contents

[edit] History

When the U.S. Federal Communications Commission initially allocated broadcast television frequencies, channel 1 was logically the first channel. These U.S. TV stations originally broadcast on channel 1

  • W2XBS / WNBT (today's WNBC-TV), New York City, now on channel 4, 1938–1946;
  • W6XAO (today's KCBS-TV), Los Angeles, now on channel 2;
  • W9XZV, Chicago, 1939–1945?;[1]
  • KARO, Riverside, California; no current VHF allocation;
  • WSBE, South Bend, Indiana; no current VHF allocation.

In 1940, the FCC reassigned the 44–50 MHz area of the frequency range from television to the FM broadcast band. Television's channel 1 frequency range was moved to 50–56 MHz (see table below). Experimental television stations in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles were affected.[2]

The first post-World War II telecommunications conferences formally allocated TV frequencies in 1945–1946. In 1945, the FCC decided to reserve channel 1 for low-power community television stations, and moved existing channel 1 stations to higher frequencies. Community stations covered smaller cities and were allowed less radiated power. Channel 1 location assignments, intended for community stations, included:

[edit] A shared (non-primary) allocation

From 1945 to 1948 TV stations in the U.S. shared Channel 1 and other channels with fixed and mobile services. The FCC decided in 1948 that a primary (non-shared) allocation of the VHF radio spectrum was needed for television broadcasting. Except for select VHF frequencies in Alaska and Hawaii (and some overseas territories) the FCC-administered VHF band is primarily allocated for television broadcasting to this day.

The FCC in May 1948 formally changed the rules on TV band allocations based on propagation knowledge gained during the era of shared-user allocations. The 44~50MHz band used by Channel 1 was replaced by lower-power narrowband users.

Channel 1 was reassigned to fixed and mobile services (44-50 MHz) in order to end their former shared use of other VHF TV frequencies. Rather than renumber the TV channel table, it was decided to merely remove Channel 1 from the table.

Canada did not start experimental broadcast television broadcasts until after the US had decommissioned Channel 1 (44-50 MHz) for television use. This TV channel was never used in Latin America, South Korea and the Philippines as TV broadcasting did not start in these areas until the 1950s.

[edit] Table of US FCC allocation of VHF band

Channel

1938-1940

1940-1946

1946-1948

since 1948

1

44-50

50-56

44-50

 

2

50-56

60-66

54-60

54-60

3

66-72

66-72

60-66

60-66

4

78-84

78-84

66-72

66-72

5

84-90

84-90

76-82

76-82

6

96-102

96-102

82-88

82-88

7

102-108

102-108

174-180

174-180

8

156-162

162-168

180-186

180-186

9

162-168

180-186

186-192

186-192

10

180-186

186-192

192-198

192-198

11

186-192

204-210

198-204

198-204

12

204-210

210-216

204-210

204-210

13

210-216

230-236

210-216

210-216

14

234-240

236-242

 

 

15

240-246

258-264

 

 

16

258-264

264-270

 

 

17

264-270

282-288

 

 

18

282-288

288-294

 

 

19

288-294

 

 

 

[edit] Cable TV allocation issues

Legacy issues with System M cable TV

  • North American (System M) analog Cable television does have a formally defined and allocated Channel 1.
  • Cable TV's use of Channel 1 is rare and its frequency assignment (HRC, IRC, ICC, STD, EIA, etc) is sometimes inconsistent.
  • The On Demand services of providers such as Comcast are allocated on EPG's on Channel 1, and are marketed as such.

System M cable TV in North America uses frequencies

for additional standard 6 MHz channels. This normally places cable converter channels 14-22 (midband) directly below VHF channel 7 in frequency and places the remaining converter channels (superband) directly above VHF channel 13.

[edit] Interference issues

  • These cable channels overlap assorted other over-the-air uses, including FM broadcasting, aeronautical, police and amateur radio bands.
  • North American cable systems must avoid interference to (and from) these other services.
  • The range from 88 - 120MHz is avoided for cable television channels on most systems, as many are carrying FM stereo radio signals to their subscribers using the standard 88-108 MHz FM broadcast band.

[edit] Other reassigned channels

Channel 1 is also not the only "missing" channel. No stations are assigned to UHF Channel 37 (608 to 614 MHz), which is reserved for radio astronomy. It remains on TV sets and tuners.

Other channels have been removed and reassigned as well, but only from the higher UHF bands. Channels 14 to 83 (sans 37), from 470 to 890 MHz, were originally added by the FCC in 1952 for the rapidly-expanding TV service in the United States.[3] In the 1980s, channels 70 to 83 (806 to 890 MHz) were removed for AMPS mobile phone services (leading to one side of some conversations being heard on older TV sets on those channels). In Canada, Channels 64 to 68 are no longer in use. In Brazil, South Korea and the Philippines, Channels 60 to 69 are no longer used.

In Europe, other recently abandoned TV channels are being used for DAB digital radio, in VHF band III.

[edit] Current uses

In the 1990s, it was decided that digital television would be limited to the current channels Channel 2 through Channel 51, so that another 18 channels (Channel 52 to Channel 69, 698 to 806 MHz) could be auctioned for private use such as mobile phone services, and/or given to emergency services such as police radios. Renumbering in this case is not relevant, as virtual channels can maintain the original analog TV station brand number, despite the fact that the station actually transmits on another channel.

Technically, the ATSC standard allows for a major virtual channel number from 1 - 99, followed by a separator ('.' or '-') and a digital subchannel number from 1 - 99 (for broadcast TV) or 1 - 999 (datacasting or cable TV). As such, it does not preclude the creation of a virtual channel 1.1 or a virtual channel 37.1:

"The major_channel_number shall be between 1 and 99. The value of major_channel_number shall be set such that in no case is a major_channel_number / minor_channel_number pair duplicated within the TVCT."[4]

However, the specification does not define any criteria to determine whom (if anyone) could ultimately be assigned the 1.1 virtual channel series for over-the-air broadcast in a local community; it merely defines a procedure to allocate virtual channels 02-69 based on holders of the corresponding (former) analogue NTSC licenses and designates virtual channels 70-99 for possible use to carry additional, unrelated programming via the facilities of these same broadcasters.

The situation for cable television differs in that channel numbering is at the discretion of the cable system operator.

Digital cable subscribers in many areas, such as those serviced by Comcast and Charter Communications, can find video on demand content at Channel 1. The TV Guide Channel is also often found on a cable system's Channel 1.

Cable subscribers in the New York area receive local news channel NY1 on channel one (actually 101), served by Time Warner Cable and Cablevision.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK General TV broadcasts on Channel 1 in Tokyo and other cities. The Japanese Channel 1 is assigned to the frequency 90 to 96 MHz, just above the Japanese FM band which is 76 to 90 MHz.

[edit] Channel 1 in US popular culture

  • In one of the final episodes of Mork and Mindy, Kalnik of Neptune asks Mindy, employed in the broadcasting industry, why there is no Channel 1. Mindy is not familiar with this aspect of television history, and stumbles through remarks about the government administering television.
  • In one of the episodes of Step by Step, Cody ask to Frank why channel 1 does not exist, and Frank does not know how to respond to him.
  • The comic strip Funky Winkerbean features a weatherman who broadcasts on channel 1.
  • The mock television studio at the Boston Children's Museum was once "branded" as "WKID Channel 1".
  • "Channel One" is the name of a TV station/network (it's not completely clear which) in the movie The Groove Tube.
  • Captain Kangaroo had an animated friend, "Fred," (animated in real time via a 2-dimensional rubber puppet process called "Aniforms"), who originally lived on "Channel 1" on a TV set behind the Treasure House blackboard.
  • Channel One News is the brand name of a company that provides TV/VCRs to schools and airs a 12 minute program of news and commercials to the students.
  • An episode of The Real Ghostbusters entitled "Station Identification" involved ghosts using Channel 1 as a portal to people's homes.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Zenith Enters FM and TV Broadcasting", The Zenith Story (1954).
  2. ^ "Threat to Television Is Feared in Frequency Modulation Order", New York Times, May 21, 1940, p. 23. "Gives Du Mont Right to Television Here", New York Times, July 21, 1940, p. 28.
  3. ^ "TV Thaw", Time, April 21, 1952.
  4. ^ ATSC standard A/65C], page 32, Advanced Television Systems Committee, May 2006.

[edit] External links