At the FCC

[Adam MadMan 285]

9 hours ago, mrschimpf said:

 Rxdio, which going by this site has no real business plan for their Muzak service in the middle of the desert outside 'get TV spectrum...profit?'.

Who's doing their business planning, underpants gnomes?

 

I got confused when I saw the name on the list. When I went for Google, it just sent me to radio.com, the website of Audacy (formerly Entercom). I had to put in the actual URL to get the right page.

 

Needless to say, I don't expect them to win either.

[Samantha 2898]

Renard is clearly in the game for Syracuse and nothing else. Similarly, BEK Sports Network probably only has eyes for Grand Forks.

 

Really curious what Estrella wants. I see only two channels they'd want: 11 Yuma and 32 Flagstaff. Maybe 9 Walla Walla. The Flagstaff station could be paired with KVPA-LD in Phoenix to force must-carry for Estrella TV. Not much else in this list that has a lot of Hispanics.

 

Weigel will want stations that attribute to large markets as part of its national mux growth strategy. Alexandria MN 7 sticks out to me here, as do the Silver City channels. They could also go for Eagle River 26 or Wittenberg 31, which are in the Wausau area. Tonopah 9 also could be used with them to get into Las Vegas, though Rxdio is clearly gunning for Tonopah. The other Nevada sticks would go into Reno (Winnemucca) and Salt Lake (Ely) DMAs.

 

Eagle River 26 is one of a handful of brand new allocations. It was sought by Gray shortly before Gray bought Quincy; it onsold WAOW but not WYOW, which gave it the Rhinelander-area transmitter it desired. (WMOW provides much the same service, thus why Gray hived WYOW off.) So there really isn't an obvious local bidder for it.

 

Freeport IL 9 could and probably should be used to revive WIFR as a full-power station. This allotment was also requested by Gray. You might recall WIFR was sold for spectrum and converted to an LPTV. Not much of this list coincides with Gray's portfolio of stations, though Sun Valley ID could be used to expand the service area of KMVT.

 

Sinclair's participation here is intriguing. Walla Walla 9 would not provide that much additional benefit to KEPR. Of the Montana stations on offer, one is in the NBC Montana service area (Butte 24) and the other two in the Great Falls DMA which has KTGF-LD as its NBC affiliate. Would they want to build high-power satellites in Price or Vernal, Utah?

[mre29 1552]

4 hours ago, Adam MadMan said:

Who's doing their business planning, underpants gnomes?

 

I got confused when I saw the name on the list. When I went for Google, it just sent me to radio.com, the website of Audacy (formerly Entercom). I had to put in the actual URL to get the right page.

 

Needless to say, I don't expect them to win either.

 

Their website looks like it was designed for mobile devices with no consideration for desktop browsers (or anything with a screen resolution greater than 1000px wide). That's just lazy.

 

[Samantha 2898]

On 6/11/2021 at 11:00 AM, CircleSeven said:

This is interesting here.

 

Remember back in 2017 when former Chicago PBS outlet WYCC sold its spectrum in the auction, and ended up channel-sharing with WTTW after the latter bought the former's spectrum-less assets?

 

Now the parent of WTTW wants to dissolve the channel sharing arrangement & relinquish the license of WYCC so that WTTW can use its full 6mhz channel capacity. 

 

I have a feeling this is nothing more than a cost-cutting move. Why pay license fees for two commonly-owned, separately-licensed stations that's shared on the same spectrum? 

 

 

They've filed to do this again as of June 1 after dropping the idea last year. https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/draftCopy.html?displayType=html&appKey=25076ff37f8fa68f017fb2ee03ad295e&id=25076ff37f8fa68f017fb2ee03ad295e&goBack=N

 

Meanwhile, WMEB Orono ME seeks to move from VHF 9 to UHF 22.

[CircleSeven 1960]

3 hours ago, Samantha said:

Meanwhile, WMEB Orono ME seeks to move from VHF 9 to UHF 22.

Should that change go in effect, LP Fox station WFVX-LD would have to find a new channel to go to, since they're on 22. And LPs don't get allotment protection.

[JCB4TV 347]

4 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

Should that change go in effect, LP Fox station WFVX-LD would have to find a new channel to go to, since they're on 22. And LPs don't get allotment protection.

For the most part, WFVX is a UHF repeater for WVII, with that in mind, Rockfleet can just simply attempt to move WVII to UHF from VHF 7.

[CircleSeven 1960]

13 hours ago, JCB4TV said:

For the most part, WFVX is a UHF repeater for WVII, with that in mind, Rockfleet can just simply attempt to move WVII to UHF from VHF 7.

Whether they move the big station (WVII) or not (which I'm not taking about), that's up to them. Should that PBS station be sucessfully in its petition, Rockfleet going to have to displace that LP to a new allotment.

 

Anyway, we have one R&O.

• KSCW (12 > 28)

[JCB4TV 347]

3 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

Whether they move the big station (WVII) or not (which I'm not taking about), that's up to them. Should that PBS station be sucessfully in its petition, Rockfleet going to have to displace that LP to a new allotment.

I was implying that it would be more beneficial for Rockfleet to potentially move WVII to UHF rather then have to find a new home for WFVX.

[CircleSeven 1960]

And if there's a vacant channel available, why get rid of an LP? There's always some value for another set of spectrum.

 

Anywho, new R&O today. And good news in West Virginia.

 

FCC has greenlighted WDTV's move from VHF 5 to UHF 33.

 

 

[CubsFan79 58]

I’m surprised more VHF channels don’t move to UHF digital channels .

[JCB4TV 347]

4 hours ago, CubsFan79 said:

I’m surprised more VHF channels don’t move to UHF digital channels .

In some places, there may not be any spectrum available for stations to move.

[nathannah 2493]

8 hours ago, CubsFan79 said:

I’m surprised more VHF channels don’t move to UHF digital channels .

We're down to 22 UHF channels, and several (14-19) are already ruled out in military base areas due to land mobile radio use, along with medical radiology, so that's down to 17 realistically. And there's no realistic way that more channels could be added by reducing spectrum into smaller bits. 

[CircleSeven 1960]

Well it only took seventeen & a half months and three amendments. But the WDVM minor modification app (moving its signal a bit south so it can reach the D.C. viewers), was finally approved by the FCC today.

 

Here's the contours of both. The upper one is the current signal, and the lower one is the proposed new signal.

[sanewsguy 514]

5 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

Well it only took seventeen & a half months and three amendments. But the WDVM minor modification app (moving its signal a bit south so it can reach the D.C. viewers), was finally approved by the FCC today.

 

Here's the contours of both. The upper one is the current signal, and the lower one is the proposed new signal.

Seems like a useless move. I get they are moving closer to DC since more money can be made in that area, but at the end of the day, it's still a rimshot signal most of the DC metro wouldn't be able to receive.

I mean, can't they just stick WDVM on a WDCW sub and vice versa? Seems like a better use of spectrum to me and continue to give the people of Hagerstown some OTA broadcast outlet.

[nathannah 2493]

43 minutes ago, sanewsguy said:

I mean, can't they just stick WDVM on a WDCW sub and vice versa? Seems like a better use of spectrum to me and continue to give the people of Hagerstown some OTA broadcast outlet.

WDCW is in a channel-sharing arrangement with WFDC and its four channels/two HD channels itself pre-dating Nexstar, so they're stuck with that arrangement. And that map is a really optimal reality, as WWPX (which is a satellite of WPXW)'s contour just a few miles north has a shaky signal into the Beltway itself.

Edited May 17, 2022 by mrschimpf

[CircleSeven 1960]

Today (5/19), the FCC announced the ten qualified bidders who have advanced to participate in Auction 112, which will begin on June 7.

• BEK Sports Network, Inc. 
• Gray Television Licensee, LLC
• Major Market Broadcasting of North Dakota, Inc.
• Marquee Broadcasting, Inc.
• Radiant Life Ministries, Inc.
• Sinclair Television Group, Inc.
• SJL Television Inc.
• TV-49, Inc. 
• Ventura Media Communications, LLC
• Venture Technologies Group, LLC

The ones listed as not qualified are Estrella Television, RxDIO.com, LLC, Renard Broadcasting, and previously-announced Redwood Empire Public Television. 

 

Also to mention, four entrants have claimed a "New Entrant" bidding credit. BEK Sports, Ventura Media & Venture Technologies have a 25% credit. And SJL have a 35% credit.

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by CircleSeven

[TheRolyPoly 2546]

On 5/17/2022 at 12:17 AM, sanewsguy said:

Seems like a useless move. I get they are moving closer to DC since more money can be made in that area, but at the end of the day, it's still a rimshot signal most of the DC metro wouldn't be able to receive.

I mean, can't they just stick WDVM on a WDCW sub and vice versa? Seems like a better use of spectrum to me and continue to give the people of Hagerstown some OTA broadcast outlet.

 

I thought WDVM was already on a WDCW sub via 25.1 to provide D.C. coverage via the WDCW transmitter.

[nathannah 2493]

44 minutes ago, TheRolyPoly said:

 

I thought WDVM was already on a WDCW sub via 25.1 to provide D.C. coverage via the WDCW transmitter.

My apologies for overlooking that, they do simulcast in that direction. I don't know what's stopping them from simulcasting WDCW on WDVM though (contractual against WHP-DT3?), so the point does stand.

[nathannah 2493]

On 5/10/2022 at 2:42 PM, Samantha said:

 

They've filed to do this again as of June 1 after dropping the idea last year. https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/draftCopy.html?displayType=html&appKey=25076ff37f8fa68f017fb2ee03ad295e&id=25076ff37f8fa68f017fb2ee03ad295e&goBack=N

WYCC is now officially gone, with its 'channel' being replaced by PBS World on 11.5 (I hope 20 days isn't enough to be considered a double-post).

Edited June 9, 2022 by mrschimpf

[CircleSeven 1960]

New M&A.

 

Bert Ellis is selling Anaheim, CA's Independent station KDOC to TCT (Radiant Life Ministries) for $41M.

[Yankees4life 561]

42 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

New M&A.

 

Bert Ellis is selling Anaheim, CA's Independent station KDOC to TCT (Radiant Life Ministries) for $41M.

What a shame for that station but the money was fine for Ellis

[ColtFromGulfcoast 715]

7 hours ago, Yankees4life said:

What a shame for that station but the money was fine for Ellis

Just watch as KAZA takes all of their syndicated programming and that newscast. 

[DirtyHarry 727]

On 6/8/2022 at 9:48 PM, mrschimpf said:

WYCC is now officially gone, with its 'channel' being replaced by PBS World on 11.5 (I hope 20 days isn't enough to be considered a double-post).

 

I'm surprised that they didn't sell the license to one of the LPTV operators in Chicagoland. You'd think that somebody would want to buy it just to force their way on to cable.

[mvcg66b3r 100]

Just now, DirtyHarry said:

 

I'm surprised that they didn't sell the license to one of the LPTV operators in Chicagoland. You'd think that somebody would want to buy it just to force their way on to cable.

 

Except that WYCC is non-commercial.

[DirtyHarry 727]

36 minutes ago, mvcg66b3r said:

 

Except that WYCC is non-commercial.

 

It would have value to one of the Christian broadcasters, but I think that you could get that converted fairly easily.