We talk a lot about the death of broadcast TV. But we rarely talk about the between life and death.
Today, if you tune to 48.1, you get “The U Too.” It is a simulcast of WCIU’s secondary feed. But look deeper at the PSIP (Program and System Information Protocol) data. The metadata is corrupt. The guide data lists shows from 2015. The station has no news department, no sales team, no engineers. It is a skeleton server running on autopilot. wmeu tv
The result? Drive three blocks west of the Loop, and WMEU dissolves into pixelated macro-blocking. It’s a broadcast station that broadcasts to ghosts . It exists on paper, but not in the electromagnetic ether. We talk a lot about the death of broadcast TV
Do you have a local “zombie station” in your market—a channel number that still exists legally but has no soul? Or is WMEU uniquely Chicago’s ghost in the machine? But look deeper at the PSIP (Program and
WMEU isn't a TV station anymore. It’s a placeholder . It is the broadcast equivalent of a “For Lease” sign on a skyscraper that still has the lights on. Until ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) forces a full reboot, Channel 48 will remain Chicago’s most expensive digital tombstone.