I’m in the Phoenix area and every channel except PBS tags their shows as new correctly. Originally, when I moved here, PBS never tagged any show as ‘new’, even the new ones. Now, they seem to tag everything as new when it’s not. And to make things even more strange, if I go into the program description, the ‘new’ shows that aren’t new have an original air date, often way in the past. For example, Poirot shows as new, however that original air date in the description is 1990!
Don’t know if this is a PBS thing or the data provider, I just found it strange and wondered if everyone is seeing this behavior?
May be something local. Here in the Chicago area, I generally have no issues with WTTW. Some shows, like “This Old House”, are often tagged as repeat even though they hadn’t actually aired on WTTW yet, often because they were delayed due to being pre-empted during Pledge Month (or is it more like Pledge Year now?)
I’m ok with them doing this on a program that’s been off the air for decades. I find the more annoying thing to be how they may show this “new” show 4 times, but only the 1st and 3rd time are designated “new”
It’s most obvious with PBS and some SNL shows. I’m guessing, it’s legacy/carry-over from when it “didn’t really matter”. Broadcaster, even cable for that matter, didn’t design these program guides for DVR or time shifting.
They would print, yes print, here’s our show - this is the time you can watch it. Take a chance if it’s new or rerun. When TV Guide was important… shows were scheduled and we planned our lives around commercial breaks.
As with cable/satellite, it takes some a vary long time to get caught up with what people want and need.
PBS has 4 OTA channels: PBS, PBS World, PBS Create, and PBS Kids. A show can be marked as new if it’s the first time aired on one of these channels. And it usually happens for first time aired on PBS World.