I had always been curious about the difference between PBS World & WTTW Prime. Most PBS stations around the country carry PBS World on one of their subchannels. Out of the Top 5 TV Markets, only Chicago doesn't carry PBS World. Out of 3 PBS stations in the Chicago market, most people would think that WTTW would have carried PBS World. Instead, WTTW decided to program their own 24 hour primetime channel called WTTW Prime. Both WTTW Prime & PBS World are channels that carry documentaries, News, Drama, Science Fiction, and public affair programs.
I noticed that both channels carry programs such as (not all listed):
- Charlie Rose
- Nova
- Frontline
- PBS Newshour
- Nightly Business Report
- World Focus
WTTW Prime takes it further, and makes it looks more appealing than PBS World. Here are some of the programs that air on WTTW Prime, along with WTTW when they can fit it in the WTTW schedule:
- Lidia's Italy
- Ask This Old House Hour
- Americas Test Kitchen
- Globe Trekker
- Mexico, One Plate at a Time (with Rick Bayless)
- Check Please (A WTTW produced restaurant review show)
- Antiques Roadshow (both in widescreen & standard screen)
- Masterpiece Mystery
- MI-5
- Chicago Tonight (a WTTW produced news show)
- Tavis Smiley
As with both channels, not all shows are listed. PBS World is a national feed. I don't know where PBS is broadcasted from, but it's a partnership between WGBH Boston, MA & WNET Newark, NJ (New York market). PBS World is on a PBS subchannel, and typically in SD 480i. Most stations that have an HD channel has the main channel in either 720p (which allows up to 4 additional subchannels in 480i SD or 1 additional 720p HD channel & 1 subchannel in 480i SD) or 1080i (allows up to 2 additional subchannels in 480i SD). WTTW programs their primetime channel to carry programming that in some cases no longer fits into the WTTW program schedule, or re-air programs from a previous night that aired on WTTW. WTTW is very much committed to kids programming during the day Monday - Friday, and at least 3 hours on Saturdays & Sundays. So that makes WTTW Prime a needed channel.
Now I do wonder if either WTIN-DT or WYCC might decide to carry PBS World in the future. I would like to see if that channel is actually worth it. Based on the programming schedule from PBS World, it looks like it lacks lots of shows. The nearest TV market that carries PBS World on a PBS station is WMVT RF 35.3 (PSIP 36.3), a station owned by the Milwaukee Area Technical College. So if a Chicago area PBS station decided to carry PBS World, WYCC has an open subchannel, as PSIP 20.2 (RF 21.2) is a simulcast of WYCC on RF 21.1 (PSIP 20.1), & WYIN-DT has 3 subchannels open: RF 17.2-17.4 (PSIP 56.2 - 56.4). WYIN-DT used to carry Create until WTTW took over carrying it, leaving WYIN-DT with open channels.
