# My new TV gets broadcast channel 1. Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849 "2003-04-29T03:59:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/1 "2003-04-29T03:59:10Z")
No, there’s nothing on. 🙂 As per Cecil’s column, which I haven’t researched but have read, TV channel 1 was officially deallocated by the FTC to make room for other broadcasting. It simply doesn’t officially exist as far as the FTC is concerned, and there are no longer official frequencies associated with it. Or so I’ve thought for the past _n_ years. Lo and behold, here comes my new Toshiba set, with esoteric menus and buttons and other hoobyjoobs, including static on the `deallocated’ broadcast channel 1. What’s up? Could I conceivably get a signal on channel 1 with my rabbit ears? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/2 "2003-04-29T04:02:00Z")
I wonder if when HDTV officially takes over there will be an HDTV channel one? That’s the only thing I can think of. Is this an HDTV-ready TV? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/3 "2003-04-29T04:03:33Z")
Oh, and it’s the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) that assigns frequencies, not the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/4 "2003-04-29T04:07:53Z")
The literature that came with it doesn’t mention HDTV at all. I don’t think it’s HDTV-ready, but it was bought this year. Even if it were HDTV, what frequencies is it recieving when it’s tuned to channel 1? What frequency could it possibly be tuned to? ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/5 "2003-04-29T04:12:33Z")
Don’t ALL T.V.s have a channel one? I mean, can’t you manually enter “01” on the remote control and static comes out (or the blue screen or the blank screen or whatever your TV does when it gets static?) All the ones I’ve ever experienced do. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/6 "2003-04-29T04:13:58Z")
Well, the original channel one occupied 50-56 MHz. what your TV is receiving on that channel is problematic. What model is it? Perhaps I can find out. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/7 "2003-04-29T04:15:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Garfield226 \* > \*\*Don’t ALL T.V.s have a channel one? I mean, can’t you manually enter “01” on the remote control and static comes out (or the blue screen or the blank screen or whatever your TV does when it gets static?) > > All the ones I’ve ever experienced do. \*\* Mine doesn’t. I’m not aware of any that do. Even older rotary-tune television sets usually omitted channel one on the dials. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/8 "2003-04-29T04:18:10Z")
It’s a Toshiba 14AF42 with FSTPURE and ColorStream. **Garfield226** , actually, most American TVs only go down to channel 2. Try to enter channel 1 and the TV will tune to channel 2 instead, in my experience. Whereas with this oddball, you can reach channel 1 by flipping through the channels to a point one below channel 2 (whereas every other set I’ve used would wrap around to the highest channel if you tried that). I don’t think I’m `fooling’ it into showing me channel 2 as channel 1. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/9 "2003-04-29T04:36:59Z")
I’ve run into some TVs (think they may have been Panasonic) that would switch to the video input if you entered 01 or 001 on the remote. Perhaps your Toshiba is made for classroom use? 😃 (No… The “Channel One” educational programs aren’t really on channel 1.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/10 "2003-04-29T04:38:10Z")
From the [PDF technical specs](http://tacpservice.toshiba.com/ConsumerProductSupport/Manuals/TV/2002/14af42_ownman.pdf) for that model: > [@](#): > > Channel coverage: > VHF: 2~13 > UHF: 14~69 > Cable: 4A, A5 - A1, AI, J ~ W, W +1 ~ W + 8 ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/11 "2003-04-29T04:43:44Z")
Every TV I’ve ever seen has a channel one. You can tune it to whatever frequency you like. What is going on here? Are UK and US tvs fundementaly different? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/12 "2003-04-29T04:44:55Z")
**Lobsang** : In that respect, yes. The American FCC nuked our channel 1 back in the 1950s. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/13 "2003-04-29T04:47:43Z")
From [this article](http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon971031/skinnyon.html) > [@](#): > > In 1948 the FCC shifted FM up the spectrum to 88 through 108, which is how your radio is numbered today. It gave the remnants of television’s Channel 1 to “land mobile,” a class of radio users that included dispatchers and police. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/14 "2003-04-29T05:53:12Z")
My TV won’t let me enter 01, it just blinks and stays on the current channel. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/15 "2003-04-29T10:02:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lobsang \* > \*\*Every TV I’ve ever seen has a channel one. You can tune it to whatever frequency you like. > > What is going on here? Are UK and US tvs fundementaly different? \*\* You don’t understand. You’re talking different “channels”. What you have is a TV which has a limited number of pretuned slots. You can tune your slot (“channel”) 01 to any real channel. American TV sets are not like that. The dial tunes to the true channel number directly. ---
**Author:** ![ski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@ski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ski)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/16 "2003-04-29T11:03:12Z")
Data point - my Toshiba also show a channel 1 if you manually type it in. I suppose you could save it as a channel, too, then it would show up when flipping through the channels. No, there’s nothing on it, though. The TV’s only about 4 years old. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/17 "2003-04-29T14:58:31Z")
Factoid: the Japanese TV system uses the same TV standard and channels as the US. But they kept their Channel 1. Some people buying video equipment directly from Japan (e.g., Beta VCRs) get equipment that has Channel 1. Note that the Japanese AC standard is a little different from the US and has to be taken into account with such equipment. So, WAGs: The OPs TV maker didn’t want to bother making changes to the US version of the tuner and left it in. The OPs TV is a grey market Japanese domestic TV. Check the spec for the AC line requirements. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/18 "2003-04-29T15:39:22Z")
In south Jersey, the local cable company shuffles around the available cable channels every year or so. I used to get programming on channels one AND zero! ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/19 "2003-04-29T16:35:40Z")
Some cable systems do use channel 1. You probably have your TV on the “cable” setting rather than the “TV” or “antenna” setting. When we had cable, we did get cable channel 1, so it would have been annoying if our cable-ready Toshiba could not display that channel! I will have to see if you can type in channel 1 on the antenna setting (which is what we’ve got the TV on now.) Having your TV set on the cable setting while using an antenna makes no difference on the VHF channels. However, any UHF channels will come in on incorrect channel numbers, which can be slightly annoying. ---
**Author:** ![NevarMore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7feea3/32.png) [@NevarMore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NevarMore)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849/20 "2003-04-29T16:49:20Z")
Is it possible that ‘channel 1’ is actually tied into the video input? Maybe its a TV not intended to be sold where the american FCC has reign. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-new-tv-gets-broadcast-channel-1-why/171849.md?page=2)