Channel 1

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 45.250 and aural at 49.75).

1 History
- 1.1 A shared (non-primary) allocation
- 1.2 Historical users
2 Table of US FCC allocation of VHF band
3 Cable TV allocation issues
- 3.1 Interference issues
4 Previous users of these frequencies
5 Current uses
6 Channel 1 in US popular culture
7 External Reference

[edit] History

When the U.S. Federal Communications Commission initially allocated broadcast television frequencies (after the first post-WWII telecommunications conferences formally allocated TV frequencies in 1945-1946), channel 1 was logically the first channel.

In 1945, the FCC decided to reserve channel 1 for low-power community television stations, and moved existing channel 1 stations to higher frequencies.

Channel 1 locations, which were all community stations, include:

[edit] A shared (non-primary) allocation

From 1945 to 1948 TV stations in the US shared Channel 1 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 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)

Rather than renumber the TV channel table, it was decided to merely remove Channel 1 from the table.

[edit] Historical users

These US TV stations originally broadcast on channel 1

WNBT (today's WNBC-TV), now on channel 4;
KTSL (today's KCBS-TV), now on channel 2;
KARO, Riverside, California; no current VHF allocation;
WSBE, South Bend, Indiana; no current VHF allocation.

Canada did not start experimental broadcast television broadcasts until after the US had decommissioned Channel 1 for television use. This TV channel was never used in Latin America as TV broadcasting did not start in the region until the mid-1950s.

[edit] Table of US FCC allocation of VHF band

Channel	1938-1940	1940-1946	1946-1948	1948-2003
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.

System M cable TV in North America uses frequencies between

Channel 6 (82-88 MHz)
Channel 7 (174-180 MHz)
between Channel 13 (210-216 MHz) and Channel 14 (470-476 MHz)

for additional standard 6 MHz channels.

[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.

[edit] Previous users of these frequencies

TV was not the first to use the Channel 1 frequency region. Originally, it was part of the FM broadcast band, until it was later moved in the RCA scandal^{[citation needed]}. 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 for the rapidly-expanding (1950s, 1960s) TV service. 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).

[edit] Current uses

In the 1990s, it was decided that digital television would be limited to the channels between 14 and 51, so that another 18 channels (from 698 to 806 MHz) could be auctioned and given to DAB radio or emergency services such as police radios. Renumbering in this case is not relevant, as virtual channels maintain the original TV station brand number, despite actually transmitting on another channel.

Digital cable subscribers in many areas, such as those serviced by Comcast, can find video on demand content at Channel 1.

Cable subscribers in the New York area receive the channel NY1 on channel one, served by Time Warner Cable and Cablevision.

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

Japanese public broadcaster NHK General TV broadcasts on Channel 1 in Tokyo and other cities.

[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.
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.
"Channel One" 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.

[edit] External Reference

What ever happened to Channel 1? - J. W. Reiser, based on a Radio Electronics article of the same name by David A. Ferre.
What became of Channel 1? - Jeff Miller

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../c/h/a/Channel_1.html"

Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | American television | Fictional telecom protocols