Can Someone Please Explain Carnival's TV Programming?

[JohnS43]

OK, so I just got back from my first Carnival cruise, on the Inspiration out of Long Beach. Now, first of all, I'll say that the TV channels available were far better than the ones on the Norwegian Star cruise I took in March. (They didn't even have the major TV networks.)

 

However, can someone explain why Carnival appears to use a DirectTV feed from Miami on a West Coast-based ship? I'm willing to bet that most of the passengers really didn't care about seeing local news programs from Miami. And it was so odd having all of the network TV programs on three hours too early (but at least I got to see Seth Myers's show, which I'd never watch at home well after midnight!) I was also totally baffled by one channel that was labeled "TCM" but was not anything like our normal TCM, even though it used the same logo. It had commercials and interstitials in Spanish, so I'm guess it must be some sort of Latin American version of TCM. (Oh, and they showed mostly older, but not TCM-worthy, movies.)

 

And there were lots of interesting commercials or infomercials on some of the channels that provided toll-free numbers for 10 or 15 Latin American countries to call from.

 

Does anyone have any insight into this?

[SadieN]

Used to be the feed from Denver.

[bisonman7]

Miami at least made more sense to me than Denver. When it was 85 and sunny while we sailed the Eastern Carribean, wasn't sure why I needed to know Denver was going to get 12 inches of snow lol??

 

 

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[Tapi]

Someone once explained this on this forum with diagrams and everything. I wish I could find that thread because it was very informative.

 

Basically, only some satellites will provide continuous TV coverage over the ocean. As someone mentioned before, the ones providing feed from Denver are some of them and that's why Carnival's network programming used to be from those satellites.

 

I'm guessing that the satellites providing feed from Miami also provide continuous coverage over the ocean and Carnival has since switched to them. Makes more sense than watching Denver related news and weather.

 

Having lived in Miami for many years, I can tell you that many of the local channels do cater to the heavily Hispanic population in South Florida.

 

 

 

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[jmcancruise]

Sorry but all I get from carnival programing is frustration. DH and I have watched the end of the same movies more than once, but couldn't catch the first. Not really looking to watch a lot of tv on the ship, but trying to find anything seems to be impossible

[reerun25]

I do find the programming a bit strange, but I do know it depends, as stated above, on coverage. I will say though, that we don't watch a lot of TV on a cruise, really don't spend a lot of time in the room. Just use the TV for background noise when getting ready in the morning or laying in bed at night going to sleep, so no real problems for us. We DVR everything we like while we are away and catch up on shows when we return.

[LHP]

Since it is satellite based....it is whatever company won the bid.

 

Yes, for most of our cruising years, it was Denver...just within the past few years has it changed to Miami...which at least makes more sense because Carnival is based in Miami.