Duluth public TV station WDSE/8 is poised to add a fifth channel and upgrade two other channels to HD.
The station says PBS Kids will launch as a fulltime channel on Jan. 31. Meanwhile, WDSE’s existing Explore and Create channels will be upgraded from SD to HD, joining the primary PBS channel in HD. The Minnesota Channel will continue to be carried in SD.
WDSE’s main channel will continue to carry a different lineup of PBS Kids programming during the day. Besides giving families two children’s program choices during the day, the move ensures that PBS Kids programming continues to reach homes served by satellite providers that only carry WDSE’s main channel.
Explore will drop a three-hour block of kids programming that currently airs in the early evening. Explore carries a mixture of programming from World Channel and PBS.
WDSE will be the third Duluth station with three HD channels after advances in encoding technology allowed TV stations to get more out of their bandwidth. The station is rebroadcast on WRPT/31 (Hibbing).