SAP & locals

[tate886]

Hi folks,

I am getting my locals in the Charleston WV area, and was wondering about the availability of the SAP, secondary Audio Programming, channel. If anyone on these forums is in my area, and gets there locals though Directv, can you get a SAP channel on any of your stations, particularly the NBC WSAZ & the PBS WPBY channels?


I don't know if it's my system, the local station or directv. but, I've so far not been able to receive t this SAP channel with any of my locals.

thanks.
~Ann

[kenglish]

I don't think either DISH or D* carry SAP from the locals, except maybe in a rare case. We have offered a stereo SAP channel to both providers for over a year, now. Neither one will even talk to us about it.

[tate886]

Oh man!

And, when I got my locals, I couldno longer get the national feed of PBS which does have the SAP feed.

Any suggestions on how to get this resolved? It's important for me to try and get the SAP channel because it sometimes carries DVS, Descriptive Video Service, programming which provides a narrative audio track for some programming, describing certain key visual elements for blind & visually impaired folks.

Thanks.

~Ann

[tate886]

After writing to Direct TV about the SAP channel & local broadcast issue, here was there response:

Thank you for writing. Whenever available through our programming providers, the SAP should be accessible as part of DIRECTV programming. Please see the
programming description to find out if the program has this option. Please be aware that this option is available on a program-to-program basis and will
not be available for all programs shown. I hope this information is helpful. I apologize for any inconvenience.

I had a feeling this is what they would say. LOL! Now, whom do I complain to about this issue?

~Ann

[SamC]

The Huntington - Charleston DMA is 99.9% English speaking.

None of the broadcasters bother with SAP. There just is no demand for it at all.

[tate886]

Actually, the PBS station in the area does carry an SAP channel. At least, they did through the over the air signal.

[BFG]

I believe SAP gets passed through just like Closed Captioning does. I might be wrong of course ;)

[tate886]

Now that brings to mind an interesting question. Is closed captioning getting through the local signal broadcasts while an SAP channel is not?

[SamC]

You are correct about PBS. I never watch that taxwaste, so I forgot to include it. I should have said none of the commercial broadcasters do SAP.

CC is a totally different technology than SAP. And CC is required by the FCC in any event. It is just a line in the broadcast stream, no equipment required by the local broadcaster to pass through the signal. SAP requires a fairly expensive piece of equipement to divide the audio spectum and carry the fairly large file of a SAP.

In a market like this, it just doesn't make sense to spend money to broadcast something that, literally, there are less than 100 people capable of understanding.

[tate886]

Yeah, I was pretty certain that NBC, CBS & ABC weren't carrying a SAP channel. I'd like for them to do that, but am not expecting it without FCC intervention. I'm more concerned about the pBS affiliate's SAP service, which for now I cannot get through Direct TV.

And, it's not alternate language programming I'm concerned about as I am a born and bred hillbilly English speaker, myself. LOL! But, in many cases, the SAP channel is also used to carry a service for the blind called DVS, Descriptive Video Service, which ads narration for visual elements of a programs' content, and it's this lack that I am keenly noticing. I wish I could get a waver so that I cou ld get the 384 feed of PBS on my DTV because it does carry a SAP channel, but it was turned off when I got my locals.