Why did Comcast drop PCNC?
Post-Gazette TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions online every Friday in Tuned In Journal blog at post-gazette.com/tv. Here’s a selection of recent queries.
Q: Did Comcast ever give a reason for discontinuing the PCNC channel?
— JOE, VIA EMAIL Rob: Not really. “Comcast does not have an agreement in place to carry PCNC after Dec. 31,” reads a Comcast statement on the matter. “We regularly evaluate our channel lineups and sometimes make changes to ensure we’re providing value to our customers as programming costs continue to increase significantly.”
Reading between the lines, that statement suggests to me that Comcast doesn’t feel PCNC was valuable at the price the cable company was previously paying for it.
Q: It seems as if for the longest time WPXI would directly refer to PCNC at the end of its newscasts. I’ve noticed lately that they haven’t been doing that for a while now in favor of their streaming platform WPXI Now.
So if PCNC as we know it is dead, how likely would it be to keep the operation running in some form, such as Cox putting a rebranded PCNC/WPXI Now on one of its subchannels in place of their existing fare so it’s still carried on cable?
In a side question, with CBS planning to launch its own 24-hour local news operation here in the near future (like it has done in other markets where it owns stations), do you think Pittsburgh could handle two 24-hour local news outlets?
— DOUG, PITTSBURGH Rob: Unless the 24-hour news operations produce a lot of original content — PCNC does not, and it remains to be seen what KDKA’s version will look like, but I’m expecting it will also have a lot of newscast reruns (the New York iteration launched with just three hours of live, original programming per day) — these are not extremely expensive operations to maintain, so yes, it’s possible Pittsburgh will support two given the higher-than-average interest in local news in the market.
“There are no active negotiations between WPXI and Comcast,” said WPXI general manager Kevin Hayes. “For the foreseeable future PCNC will not be carried on Comcast.”
As to what WPXI and its owner, Cox Media Group (which is now owned by Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm), might do with PCNC in the future, who knows.
“We are reviewing our options to distribute PCNC over the air,” Hayes said. “No solution yet.”
In terms of what WPXI promotes, a decade ago it made sense to try to drive viewers to PCNC because streaming either didn’t exist or hadn’t been widely adapted. With the current view that streaming on demand is the future — and with streaming bringing in younger audiences — it makes sense that WPXI would promote WPXI Now instead of PCNC.
Q: Was the most recent “Call the Midwife” holiday special filmed on location in Scotland?
— ELAINE, MT. LEBANON Rob: Yes, per a PBS publicist, it was filmed in Scotland.