PSIP/Channel Changes

We just had a local station switch transmitters from a primary station on channel 9.1 to a secondary station on 13.4. Programs scheduled to record on the station failed as soon as the switch occurred, and attempting to edit the timers failed with a generic “Weak Signal” message. Doing a new channel scan found the new channel assignments, and immediately allowed tuning of the new channel, but the guide data did not update immediately even after doing a manual guide update, nor did the timer fire.

The next day, everything is working as per normal; the timers returned and show the new channel number, and the guide is working correctly.

It might be a good idea to document the process the user is expected to follow in this case, and the apparent need to wait until overnight housekeeping has completed before expecting timers to operate again. It’s actually quite helpful that the timers seamlessly migrate to where the channel is, but I can see it potentially frustrating during the transition.

How would the tablo unit seamlessly migrate to the new channel? It doesn’t know what channels are moving or when or to where or if the channel is being sold off and thus there isn’t a new channel.

Repack phases are 3-6 month cycles. A station could migrate anytime within the phase. And most channel WEB pages don’t even publish a transition date. I have 4 channels repacking in phase 2 which ends soon. No repacking has occurred and none of them has any information on their WEB page.

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