WRAL Releases Widget
WRAL announced today
the release of a Yahoo! TV Widget. The small data application allows viewers to follow a WRAL data stream while watching a Yahoo! TV Widget-capable TV. The widget can be added by selecting it from the Widget Gallery.
TWC Channel Reassignments Hit Today
Just a reminder that when you turn on the TV tonight you’ll find TWC’s new channel lineup all rolled out. Complete information is here . Don’t worry about your scheduled recordings. Their schedules still should be intact.
Clay Aiken to Appear on The View
Wednesday’s episode of The View is scheduled to have Clay Aiken as a guest. The show airs on ABC at 11:00am.
TWC To Rollout Channel Reassignments June 8
The previously mentioned Time Warner Cable channel realignment is coming to the Raleigh area on June 8. From that point on all channels above 100 will be reassigned to numbers based on the following categories:
- 100s – Local Programming – all OTA channels
- Lower 200s – Kids & Family
- Upper 200s – Learning & Discovery, Faith & Inspiration
- Lower 300s – Entertainment
- Upper 300s – Home & Leisure, Shopping
- Lower 400s – News & Info
- Upper 400s – Music (not Music Choice)
- 500s – Sports
- 600s – Movies
- 700s – Premium Movies, PPV
- 800s – International
- 900s – Music Choice
- 1000s – HD version of the exact same channel with 3-digits
This will be a breeze once you learn a few key channels: CBS, FOX, NBC, and ABC are on 105, 150, 117, and 111. Their HD channels are 1000 higher on 1105, 1150, 1117, and 1111. ESPN is on 500, then ESPN2, ESPNU. Fox Sports Carolinas is on 508. HGTV and Food Network are on 350 and 351, respectively. Palladia is 1453. Yep! That pretty much does it 😉
WRAL iPhone App Goes 2.0
WRAL has just released
version 2.0 of their free substitute browser on the iPhone
. The new version allows readers to forward stories to Facebook, Twitter, email, and SMS. It also features a tiny current weather in the upper right, so there is no need for one on the lower menu bar any more. The update also allows one to skip to the next story while viewing an individual article.
A long-awaited feature is the ability to lock/unlock rotation. It is hidden in More | Settings. I’m not sure if this is new in 2.0, per se. While it is nice to have the ability to change rotation, it still is not what I suggested. I’d like to see WRAL’s app behave like Safari where it rotates for three orientations, but does not the phone’s top side is down. Safari’s configuration is the best when lying in best, to be honest.
Finally a word of warning; this app is very crashy (even more than normal iPhone apps!). The majority of the time that I skip to the next story the app crashes. Several times it crashed when jumping in and out of news sections. Unless you are incredibly excited about the sharing features, I’d wait until 2.1.
Time Warner Cable Remapping Coming in June
Last week your favorite site broke the story to Raleigh about Time Warner Cable remapping all of its digital channels in Charlotte. Now Time Warner has posted that these changes will be coming to the Triangle area in June. The rollout dates are as such:
- 4/20: Lumberton
- 6/2: Fayetteville, Dunn, Fort Bragg, Wilson, Southern Pines
- 6/8: Raleigh , Cary, Wake Forest, Youngsville, Garner, East Wake Co., Farmville, Selma, Goldsboro, Seymour Johnson.
- 6/16: Durham, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Henderson, Bunn.
The exciting improvements will remap all SD channels over 100 into categorized groups, and puts HD versions of those channels at a position 1000 channels higher. Finally, the 1- and 2-digit channels you currently know and love will not change (but will be removed in not so many years). TWC has not released specific channel lineups, so we don’t know yet whether or not Time Warner Raleigh will allocate cable networks to the exact same channel numbers as they will in Charlotte.
TWC Raleigh Makes Fallon Monologue
Time Warner’s gaffe last week (where they accidentally mis-assigned a Playboy ad-roll) made the Jimmy Fallon’s monologue on Friday night. Nice!
Time For The Madness
![images1_thumb[1]](https://www.gogoraleigh.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/images1_thumb1.png "images1_thumb[1]")
It’s the most wonderful time of the year…
For some reason that Andy Williams classic got mislabeled as a “Christmas songâ€, however no time of the year is it more applicable than March. With new growth appearing on plants and lawns, warmer temperatures, and the playing of the 2nd greatest event in sports, who would possibly call that a “Christmas songâ€?
The games begin at Noon, and WRAL is the source for all of the TV coverage. Their signals 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4 will be carrying every game of the tournament once again. Time Warner Cable customers will be able to tune these channels in SD on channels 1061, 1062, 1063, and 1064 while they will carry the games in HD on 1051, 1052, 1053, and 1054. Also CBS College Sports channel on 1065(SD) and 1055(HD) will carry interviews, coaches’ shows, and other tournament coverage.
It should be noted that because these are channels that are not normally active, customers tuning in any of these channels with anything other than a TWC box will need to rescan their channels in order to pick them up. That means that CableCARD customers and clear QAM customers (those who tune their TV literally to 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4) will need to go into their tuner or TV’s setup, and do another complete scan of the channels. This process is one that can take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes depending on the device, so my recommendation is to do this before 11:00am today. The channels have a signal now and will be picked up on a scan now.
Also just one more reminder that the complete NCAA tournament schedule is available for free subscription on Google Calendar. In order to subscribe, simply visit the calendars page and follow the Google Calendar link beside “NCAA Tournamentâ€.
Time Warner Remapping Channels in Charlotte
Time Warner Cable recently sent a notice to all customers in the Charlotte area notifying them of a
massive channel remapping for digital channels (.pdf)
. Time Warner is grouping all digital channels into logical categories in the alignment, and assigning them numbers above 100. All local programming will appear the 100’s, Kids & Family in the lower 200’s, Learning & Discovery in the upper 200’s, etc. The beauty here is that ESPN appears on 500, ESPN 2 on 501, ESPNU on 502, and other ESPNs follow on adjacent channels.
Perhaps the best aspect of the move is that all HD channels will appear on a channel that is 1000 higher than its SD counterpart. TNT is on 301, so the TND-HD is on 1301. Local ABC is on 110, so the HD version is on 1100.
The analog channels, while they still exist, will still be found below channel 100, and will not require a converter box. However there will be a day down the road where those enormous bandwith hogs will be shut off to accommodate more services, and every subscriber will require a converter box of some sort to tune channels. (Digital channels are brought to you in encrypted QAM, unencrypted QAM, and SDV. Old TVs cannot tune these types of channels. So when you tune to ESPN SD with on “31†on your TV – no box – you are tuning the analog version of the channel). It seems that TWC’s logical lineup is a move to get customers accustomed to using these 3- and 4-digit channels, making the removal of those 1- and 2-digit channels down the road go unnoticed.
…and certainly we have this move coming to Raleigh, as all recent TWC moves in Charlotte have been directly mirrored here.
Theatre In The Park Hosting Oscar Gala
In honor of tonight’s Oscars, Theatre In The Park is hosting a big
Oscar Night Gala
. The Master of Ceremonies will be Larry Stogner and the Host will be Ira David Wood III.
Tickets
are $50, ($100 for VIP)
-
Red carpet arrival with paparazzi photo.
-
Catered buffet dinner provided by The Angus Barn.
-
Open bar provided by Mutual Distributing Company and Carolina Brewing Company.
-
Watch the Academy Awards on one of Raleigh’s biggest screens.
-
Take home a copy of the official Oscar Night program.
-
Participate in a silent auction that includes a number of rarely available autographed Hollywood, Broadway and Sports items.
-
Dress for the red carpet or come as your favorite movie star. Black Tie Optional.
-
All proceeds benefit the theatre’s community arts and education programs.
Silent Auction Items Include:
-
Twilight Saga: New Moon Poster autographed by Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner
- Shoes worn to 2009 Academy Award by Evan Rachel Wood
- Broadway Show Poster from Rent autographed by the cast
- Carolina Panthers Football autographed by Julius Peppers
- Mary Tyler Moore show script from "Chuckles Bites The Dust" autographed by Mary Tyler Moore
- Dan Aykroyd autographed photo and autographed bottle of Crystal Head Vodka
- Night at The Umstead Hotel
- Night at Fearrington House
- Estate Collection Jewelry from Bailey’s Fine Jewelry
- "Wall of Wine" containing over 15 bottles of wine
- A Christmas Carol Package including 4 premium tickets to show, backstage tour, autographed photo of Scrooge and more
- NYC getaway with tickets to Broadway show, Chicago, tickets for tour of the William Ivey Long Studios, and gift certificate to Shoolbred’s (William Ivey Long’s bar)
-
Celebrities from “The Full Monty†are expected to attend.
Fixing Olympics QAM Troubles
Channel 17 ran an informative crawl during last night’s Olympic broadcast. It regarded cable customers who get to their HD on NBC by literally tuning the TV to 17.1. If these viewers cannot get their TV to tune into the HD version of the Olympics, they should try rescanning their channels. Incidentally, this also applies for those periodically having trouble tuning their TV ( not their cable box) to 5.1, 11.1, 50.1, etc.
When the TV runs its new channel scan, it will find the hidden channel to which Time Warner has newly assigned WNCN’s HD channel. (Periodically Time Warner will reassign the actual location in the bandwidth where some channels exist in order to get more efficient transmission. The cable boxes and CableCARDs do a fine job of detecting these new addresses, but QAM tuners, which people use when they tune in to 17.1, need to be manually remapped).
State/Va. Tech is at 9 Tonight
Tonight’s NCSU vs. Virginia Tech basketball game was originally scheduled for 7:00pm, as a non-TV event. Recently, though, the game was moved to 9:00pm in order for it to be carried on ESPNU. So don’t rush through dinner so you can show up at the RBC Center at 6:30, because they won’t let you in.
This game time, incidentally, coincides with tonight’s UNC vs. Duke game.
Art Mann Attending Krispy Kreme Challenge
HDNet’s
Art Mann
, the former host of “Wild Onâ€, will be on hand for this year’s Krispy Kreme Challenge. No word yet about how Mann wants to portray the event.
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