With Saturday's Post-Gazette report that WTAE is likely to get the contract for local TV broadcasts of lottery drawings, viewers reacted swiftly and not altogether positively. Some of that can be chalked up to viewers hating change, but there were also complaints specific to Channel 4. Whatever concerns people have, it's likely that WTAE will air lottery broadcasts beginning July 1.

"Please don't let WTAE air the Pennsylvania Lottery drawings without voicing to the appropriate people the fact that half the surrounding area cannot receive their broadcast signal most of the time. I think their antenna is in a deep well," wrote Norm from Butler. That's hyperbole, but it is true that I get more complaints from viewers who have difficulty receiving WTAE's signal than that of other stations.

Reality check: No station is going to reach everyone -- and every station is going to miss reaching different people.

Last week in this space I reported on WTAE's plans to improve its signal coverage later this summer by placing a repeater antenna on WQED's tower in Oakland. That didn't satisfy Troy in Bridgeville, who wrote, "I have trouble pulling in the three WQED channels, too, but on clear days I can get them on the television in the upper level of the house. ... How can WTAE win the lottery contract when there are people throughout the city who cannot receive the WTAE signal? Shouldn't that disqualify them from even being in the running for lottery broadcasts?"

Reality check: So few people rely on over-the-air broadcasts locally (less than 8 percent, per Nielsen) that I'm not sure WTAE's lack of over-the-air reach matters to lottery officials.

I'm less inclined to buy the argument that lottery numbers are available online, making the televised drawings less of a, er, draw than they once were. With our large elderly population -- a demographic least likely to be whiling away time on the Internet -- I'm sure plenty of viewers still rely on TV to find out the winning numbers. If nothing else, it's ritualized viewing for some.

But coupling the easier access to the daily numbers with a casino about to open in Pittsburgh, it's clear that people's gambling options have grown. And that makes WTAE's acquisition of lottery broadcasts potentially less notable, at least from a ratings standpoint.

From a business perspective, it's still a win for WTAE because the lottery contract comes with an agreement for the lottery to buy ads on Channel 4.

The big question now is whether WTAE will somehow re-configure its evening lineup of newscasts and syndicated shows to better take advantage of the ratings bump the lottery provides when drawings air just before 7 p.m.

Might the station expand its 6 p.m. news to an hour or add a half-hour of news at 7? Or will it be content with the bump to the 11 p.m. news from Powerball drawings Wednesday and Saturday and leave the early evening configuration alone? WTAE general manager Rick Henry would not comment on the station's plans.

The least persuasive argument against the lottery moving to WTAE was left on my voicemail by a caller who insisted that the station should not be considered because of 1980's Nick Perry-rigging-the-lottery-while-a-Channel-4-employee incident.

Reality check: That was almost 30 years ago, and the lottery drawings aren't produced locally anymore -- any Pittsburgh station that airs the lottery simply passes through the satellite signal that comes out of Harrisburg, where drawings take place.

Late last week the Television Critics Association, of which I am a member, announced nominations for the 2009 TCA Awards. NBC got the most nominations of any network while FX's "The Shield" received the most nods for a single series. Here's the list of nominees:

PROGRAM OF THE YEAR

"Battlestar Galactica" (Sci Fi)

"Lost" (ABC)

"Mad Men" (AMC)

"Saturday Night Live" (NBC)

"The Shield" (FX)

BEST COMEDY

"30 Rock" (NBC)

"The Big Bang Theory" (CBS)

"The Daily Show" (Comedy Central)

"How I Met Your Mother" (CBS)

"The Office" (NBC)

BEST DRAMA

"Breaking Bad" (AMC)

"Friday Night Lights" (NBC)

"Lost" (ABC)

"Mad Men" (AMC)

"The Shield" (FX)

BEST MOVIE, MINI, SPECIAL

2008 Summer Olympic Coverage (NBC)

"24: Redemption" (Fox)

"Generation Kill" (HBO)

"Grey Gardens" (HBO)

"Taking Chance" (HBO)

NEW PROGRAM OF THE YEAR

"Fringe" (Fox)

"The Mentalist" (CBS)

"No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" (HBO)

"True Blood" (HBO)

"United States of Tara" (Showtime)

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT/COMEDY

Alec Baldwin ("30 Rock")

Steve Carell ("The Office")

Tina Fey ("30 Rock")

Neil Patrick Harris ("How I Met Your Mother")

Jim Parsons ("The Big Bang Theory")

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT/DRAMA

Glenn Close ("Damages")

Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad")

Walton Goggins ("The Shield")

Jon Hamm ("Mad Men")

Hugh Laurie ("House")

BEST CHILDREN'S PROGRAM

"Camp Rock" (The Disney Channel)

"The Electric Company" (PBS)

"Nick News" (Nickelodeon)

"Sid the Science Kid" (PBS)

"Yo Gabba Gabba" (Nickelodeon)

BEST NEWS & INFORMATION

"60 Minutes" (CBS)

"The Alzheimer's Project" (HBO)

"Frontline" (PBS)

"The Rachel Maddow Show" (MSNBC)

"We Shall Remain" (PBS)

HERITAGE AWARD

"ER" (NBC)

"M• A• S• H" (CBS)

"Saturday Night Live" (NBC)

"The Shield" (FX)

"Star Trek" (NBC)

Season three of AMC's "Mad Men" premieres at 10 p.m. Aug. 16 with episodes routinely running past 11 p.m. (set your VCRs and DVRs accordingly). ... After stellar ratings for Monday's premiere, Showtime has already renewed "Nurse Jackie" for a second season. ... "Futurama" revived again: Comedy Central has ordered 26 episodes. ... This week the Screen Actors Guild -- by a 78 percent margin -- ratified a two-year contract covering movies and TV shows made by Hollywood studios. ... The 23rd season of MTV's "The Real World" begins filming soon in Washington, D.C., and will air next year.

WPXI reporter Dee Thompson is out on medical leave and will be off the air for four-six weeks. ... KDKA will begin broadcasting newscasts in HD Tuesday. ... Justin Brown, a fifth-year senior studying television broadcasting at California University of Pennsylvania, will compete in "I Survived a Japanese Game Show," which returns Wednesday on ABC.

All the media world is atwitter about Twitter, but given its low retention rate (40 percent, per Nielsen), I still prefer Facebook (70 percent retention rate). You can "friend me" there most easily by doing a search for rowen@post-gazette.com.

I'll be posting status updates with links to stories and blog headlines, and occasionally I'll throw out questions or comments. I vow not to update you on what I'm eating for lunch or waste your time with similar inanities.

I've also linked the Facebook account to Twitter for folks who prefer that service. My tweets will appear on Twitter under RobOwenTV.

Tuned In Journal features a former Pittsburgher who's now writing for prime time and nurses protesting "Nurse Jackie." Today's TV Q&A responds to questions about DTV conversion, Jay Leno and the single-anchor format. Read online TV content at post-gazette.com/tv.

PG dining critic China Millman joins me on this week's Tuned In podcast to review Bravo's "Top Chef Masters." Listen or subscribe at post-gazette.com/podcast.