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Spectrum Auction Results


tyrannical bastard

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These are the 12 stations that are going off-air completely (no channel sharing):

 

WAGT Augusta GA

WPBO Charleston-Huntington WV

WAOH-CD Cleveland-Akron OH

KATA-CD Dallas-Ft Worth TX

WFXI Greenville-New Bern-Washington NC

WBKI Louisville KY

WWJS-CD Louisville KY

WDLP-CD Miami-Ft Lauderdale FL

WNYJ New York NY

WMEI Puerto Rico

WSJU Puerto Rico

KSPR Springfield MO

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These are the 12 stations that are going off-air completely (no channel sharing):

 

WAGT Augusta GA

WPBO Charleston-Huntington WV

WAOH-CD Cleveland-Akron OH

KATA-CD Dallas-Ft Worth TX

WFXI Greenville-New Bern-Washington NC

WBKI Louisville KY

WWJS-CD Louisville KY

WDLP-CD Miami-Ft Lauderdale FL

WNYJ New York NY

WMEI Puerto Rico

WSJU Puerto Rico

KSPR Springfield MO

 

Many of these are supplanted by sister stations, translators, or their parent stations.

 

WAGT will be moving to a low-powered facility (WAGT-CD) or will be simulcast on WRDW.

WPBO is a satellite of WOSU in Columbus.

WAOH-CD shares programming with W16DO-D (formerly W35AX) and will be moving to channel 27 in the 10th phase of the repack.

WFXI shares programming with WYDO

KYTV will be moving to KSPR's current channel assignment in the first phase of the repack, and will likely assume the ABC affiliation on a subchannel.

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My area (Springfield MA) doesn't have all that much stations, so the only one of those that actually air here that got any money is PBS member WGBY, which is moving its physical channel to 13. The only other stations affected (WWLP is staying put) are just switching to different parts of the UHF dial, even WFXQ, which I thought for sure would end up being sold, since it doesn't cover any ground WWLP can't on its own (to my knowledge), but I guess Nexstar wasn't satisfied with the offers (if there were any offers).

 

There's definitely more movement south of me in Connecticut. Four stations got auctioned off (WCTX, WEDY, WRDM, and WUVN), though all will share channels with another station (I know someone here already guessed WVIT will take over for WRDM).

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The only downside to all of this is that each remaining channel's 6 MHz is going to get squeezed tighter and tighter, with them running more and more subchanels, resulting in diminished video quality.

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My thoughts/comments (DC/Baltimore currently):

- at first I was shocked about WDCW - then I noticed that they had "yes" in both columns of the CSA question. To me that means they already had something lined up for the program stream before the auction

- a lot of the duopololy shutdowns didn't surprise me at all. I thought there might be a few more, but not (at least) right now.

- once repacking starts, we may see a temporary loss of some streams or higher compression until ATSC 3.0 kicks in.

- I'm not sure of the timing for ATSC 3.0, but could some broadcasters implement it at the time of repacking?

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The only downside to all of this is that each remaining channel's 6 MHz is going to get squeezed tighter and tighter, with them running more and more subchanels, resulting in diminished video quality.

 

Not if they dump some lesser-viewed subchannels.

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Here's a question...

 

Since KRON is staying on the air by moving to a VHF channel, will it have an effect on the "UHF discount" they enjoy?

 

Even if it is, it's only by 1 percent (at the 2.169% reach San Francisco has), but it may be another moot point once the rules are likely changed...

 

I think you just pointed out why the UHF discount is obsolete and should not be reinstated. Period.

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I realize the whole WNBC deal is a business decision and that there will be no effect on viewers. It's just the whole history of the channel.

 

I realize that WNJU will be the parent station and that WNBC will retain their calls as a separate station. For those of us sentimental could they change WNJU's calls to WNBC and have WNJU as the channel sharing?

 

I believe someone mentioned earlier that some duopolies weren't going off air. This is likely because they may not have been eligible to participate in the auction.

 

To be honest, WNBC broadcasting of RF 28 is a change in the station's history as well, this is just another part of that history as the nature of television broadcasting continues to evolve. I think whether WNBC becomes the primary or it stays as WNJU, (both are owned by NBCU so they can do what they want), it will all depend on maintaining the quality OTA signal for both stations as they receive now, for those that receive the station OTA. For the bulk of us viewers who have cable, it will be no change.

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Hmmm, going over the topic list - I would not be shocked in the least if the Tribune stations going off the air ended up channel sharing with Sinclair stations... Something being foretold???

Whichever company gives Tribune the most money.

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One other major issue that will need to be resolved with this is... quite a few of these TV antennas still house FM antennas and the like. Where do they go?

 

As for WAOH/W16DO, they've always been run as the red-headed stepchildren of Media-Com's WNIR/100.1 (which says a lot, as Media-Com turned in the license of WJMP/1520 - a station largely forgotten since the early 1990s - a few months ago).

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WIWN was already on low VHF so they weren't likely to get much in a sale anyways. They've found a niche in making money in networks very few in the market watch, but I'm sure they're probably a part of WVCY's channel share plans and that will get them something.

 

The other shocker in this is WSJV/South Bend didn't win at all (nor did any South Bend station, unless there's a later announcement coming). How do you justify running that station now when you've reduced it to such a bare-bones operation?

 

Sell it to a religous broadcaster and or Weigel to turn it into an ABC station.

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Do the sharing agreements have to be finalized as of the auction close date? Or can you make those arrangements at later dates?

 

What if you can't find someone to share with?

 

Some stations finalized channel-share agreements prior to the auction, but others did not, and will have to enter into agreements prior to the deadline for stations that elected to channel-share to vacate their pre-auction channels. If they don't, they would have to turn in their license.

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Many of these are supplanted by sister stations, translators, or their parent stations.

 

WAGT will be moving to a low-powered facility (WAGT-CD) or will be simulcast on WRDW.

WPBO is a satellite of WOSU in Columbus.

WAOH-CD shares programming with W16DO-D (formerly W35AX) and will be moving to channel 27 in the 10th phase of the repack.

WFXI shares programming with WYDO

KYTV will be moving to KSPR's current channel assignment in the first phase of the repack, and will likely assume the ABC affiliation on a subchannel.

It already happened in Springfield, MO on February 1, 2017.

KSPR moved to KYCW-LD and became KSPR-LD on channel 33. The CW moved to a subchannel of KSPR-LD. Channel 15 moved to the old KSPR and became KGHZ, an Antenna TV affiliate.

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It already happened in Springfield, MO on February 1, 2017.

KSPR moved to KYCW-LD and became KSPR-LD on channel 33. The CW moved to a subchannel of KSPR-LD. Channel 15 moved to the old KSPR and became KGHZ, an Antenna TV affiliate.

 

....and the cheese stands alone.....

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Lots of TBN, religious and public broadcasters cashing in too...

 

I'm surprised that the values in eastern part of the Great Lakes were so low. I thought crowded spectrum (and Canada) was why all the Northern Ohio stations all had hobbled signals. In Columbus, which is one of the areas where T-Mobile has the least amount of spectrum, none of the Class-A LPTV's got anything and TBN (WSFJ) essentially got for the station what they paid for it.

 

Surprised that Sinclair didn't sell the WWHO (Channel 48) frequency. Sinclair has three signals in Columbus. How many do you really need?

 

Surprised that THE Ohio State University would sell WPBO. $8 million is a pittance for them. I think it's worth having a signal there just for the sake of having a presence for the State of Ohio and for the university. Portsmouth itself is on the western edge of Kentucky/West Virginia PBS signals, but north and west of there is no PBS between there and the Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus fringes.

 

Surprised that Dispatch didn't sell WALV, but the stations in Indy didn't get eye-popping amounts of money, either.

 

Sinclair must be kicking itself for selling WLWC in another crowded spectrum area. $80 million they urinated away.

 

Can anyone explain to me the reason why WNBC is on the list?

 

They are channel sharing with the Telemundo station which, on paper, has the better signal.

 

Likewise, WYTV and WYFX will probably end up absorbing WKBN's streams.

 

I guess the value of WKBN's superior signal outweighed it as a broadcast facility. WYTV's signal is grossly inferior.

 

I'm assuming that Nexstar will acquire them outright? Maybe even kill off the cursed WYTV calls and re-christen it as WKBN....

 

My undersstanding is that the idea behind channel sharing is to carve up the 6mHz to create two separate 3mHz stations. I think WKBN will technically be a separate station with its own virtual channel and 3mHz instead of 6mhz, or do I have this wrong?

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In advance of WDCA's spectrum being sold, FOX is rebranding My20DC as FOX 5 Plus on July 17th...

 

This includes a new 8pm newscast that will preempt an hour of MyNetwork programming.

 

I wonder if FOX will roll this out to their other O&Os, especially those who cashed out in the auction...

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/mobile/index/article/id/103316

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In advance of WDCA's spectrum being sold, FOX is rebranding My20DC as FOX 5 Plus on July 17th...

 

This includes a new 8pm newscast that will preempt an hour of MyNetwork programming.

 

I wonder if FOX will roll this out to their other O&Os, especially those who cashed out in the auction...

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/mobile/index/article/id/103316

 

KTVU started it all. Dont be surprised if other FOX O&Os do this for their MyTV stations, including KDFW, KRIV, WOFL, WNYW, KTTV and WFLD, among others.

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KTVU started it all. Dont be surprised if other FOX O&Os do this for their MyTV stations, including KDFW, KRIV, WOFL, WNYW, KTTV and WFLD, among others.

I don't know that I'd include Chicago in that list, considering WPWR has the CW as their primary affiliation, now.

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I don't know that I'd include Chicago in that list, considering WPWR has the CW as their primary affiliation, now.

 

True so it may work in other markets. I can see WNYW, KTTV, KDFW, KRIV, WOFL, KMSP and KSAZ (especially KSAZ to some extent) do something for its MyTV stations.

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The Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC), owners of the Milwaukee PBS stations WMVS and the soon to be departed WMVT, have said that their classical and jazz streaming music subchannels (36.4 and 36.5) and their Wisconsin DOT Traffic Cam subchannel (36.6) will go away when they vacate the frequency for WMVT. I'm not surprised; I figured something would have to give to make enough room.

 

http://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/television-radio/2017/04/17/millions-tv-spectrum-auction-wont-have-impact-while/100565812/

 

I wonder which subchannels Weigel will give up in the Milwaukee area.

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