TV Q&A: When will PBS’s ‘Call the Midwife’ be back with new episodes?

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review.

Q: Do you have any clue as to when PBS’s “Call the Midwife” will be broadcast? Usually, by now the show is over for the year.

— Sheila, New Castle

Rob: Production on the covid-delayed 10th season of “Call the Midwife” has wrapped and will likely premiere on PBS stations in September.

Q: Any way to find out when Amazon Prime Video’s “Jack Ryan” and “Goliath” will return?

— Bruce, Indiana, Pa.

Rob: My understanding is the final season of “Goliath” will debut later this year. An Amazon publicist declined to provide any information on “Jack Ryan,” so I’m thinking that one may not be back until 2022.

Q: My question concerns the chat shows on the nostalgia channels. On both Carson (Antenna TV) and Cavett (Decades TV) reruns, musical guests almost never perform their music. Either obvious cuts are made or commercials fill what would be the guests time.

I assume this is because of the music rights. Why are they apparently sold separately from the rights to broadcast the show? By contrast much of the Ed Sullivan shows (Decades) are made up of singers performing.

— Fred, Greenfield

Rob: It is an issue of music rights and the owners of shows that lack music simply never renegotiated music rights for reruns/digital/streaming.

Per Pittsburgh-based producer T.J. “Doo Wop” Lubinsky, “Re-runs of ’60s’ shows never anticipated digital channels or reruns at all. These are considered ‘new use’ channels. When the Ed Sullivan library came out for syndication, all these rights for the music had to be renegotiated and re-cleared for all media use. I can’t speak for the other shows specifically, but generally when you dont see a song performed its because the producer/distributors didnt have the budget to re-clear the rights for the performance from the songwriters and/or music publishers and sometimes the acts themselves for the digital channels, cable markets and DVD/streaming. We’re talking big money even for a few seconds of any one song — let alone several.

Q: Why are we no longer able to pick up Channel 19, WPCW-TV, on our antenna? We enjoyed stations such as GRIT and Heroes Icons. We’ve rescanned several times and are still unable to pick it up.

— Jackie, Herminie

Rob: Per KDKA/WPCW chief engineer Todd Harbaugh, “Nothing is different. WPCW is a VHF signal (as opposed to KDKA which is UHF). The signal naturally doesn’t penetrate buildings as well, is more susceptible to terrestrial interference, atmospheric, etc. This can also include leaves returning to trees. Slight adjustments to home antennas generally correct the (problem) pretty easily. I had the same thing happen in my house around the same time. I move the antenna and it comes back.”

Q: I am a frequent Antenna TV watcher. Over the weekend I saw an ad for a new TV station called Rewind TV. Supposedly the station will carry shows focused on the ’80s and ’90s while Antenna TV will shift to all ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. What more do you know about this and how it will impact schedules? Please tell me we will get it locally through Comcast? Are these stations available via an app through a Roku? Keep up the great work as always!

— Jeff, Canonsburg

Rob: The upcoming Rewind TV and currently available Antenna TV, found locally on Channel 53.2 over the air and on Comcast (208/1177) and Verizon (466), are owned by Nexstar Inc., which does not own TV stations in Pittsburgh.

Rewind TV, launching Sept. 1, does not yet have a Pittsburgh affiliate. A representative for both channels said schedules have not been set beyond the broad strikes Jeff describes. Shows at launch will include “The Drew Carey Show,” “Murphy Brown,” “Growing Pains” and “Family Ties.”

Q: Is WPXI-TV not going to produce newscasts for PCNC anymore? Since last week they’ve just been replaying earlier WPXI newscasts.

— Tyler, Elizabeth

Rob: I suspect this is temporary and related to the ransomware attack last week that Channel 11’s ownership has so far refused to answer questions about.

Q: Do you know why WPXI stopped the crawl at the bottom of the screen that included lottery results and county covid vaccinations? I found it useful and the vaccination information informative. I emailed the station and, of course, did not get a reply.

— Louis via email

Rob: WPXI general manager Kevin Hayes and news director Scott Trabandt did not reply when I sent them Louis’ question, but I suspect this is also a temporary change necessitated by the ransomware attack the station suffered last week.