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CircleSeven

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On 7/30/2021 at 8:56 PM, CircleSeven said:

They're acquiring Marshalltown, IA KDAO-CD from MTN Broadcasting for $195K.


One, their signal only serves the immediate Marshalltown area which is northeast of Des Moines. So I wouldn't be surprised if Weigel moves it closer to the capital city, should this deal be completed.

And speaking of the devil, the LP (now known as KDIT-CD) filed to move its signal closer to Des Moines.

 

Surprisingly, Weigel had to file a request so they can move to the proposed facility (Alleman). Because earlier this month, the FCC placed a condition on the license to cover grant that they had to operate its signal continously for a twelve-month period at their current facility (Baxter).

 

Edited by CircleSeven
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Scripps has filed petitions to switch all six Montana (MTN) stations to UHF.

I don't think I'm much of a fan of switching in these mountainous areas in which most of those households have outdoor antennas, which works well with VHF.

 

Edited by CircleSeven
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34 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

Scripps has filed three petitions to switch these Montana (MTN) stations to UHF.

I don't think I'm much of a fan of switching in these mountainous areas in which most of those households have outdoor antennas, which works well with VHF.

These chain owners are more concerned about the ownership cap rather than signal quality. In fact, the worse reception, the better, since that means more retrans money with cable, and in smaller markets, there will be less outrage.

Edited by TheSpeedKing
Explanation, not speculation
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39 minutes ago, TheSpeedKing said:

These chain owners are more concerned about the ownership cap rather than signal quality. In fact, the worse reception, the better, since that means more retrans money with cable, and in smaller markets, there will be less outrage.

 

It makes little difference in such small markets, since it barely adds 0.1 or 0.2 points for Scripps - not enough to get into even one mid-sized market.

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On 10/8/2021 at 6:35 PM, CircleSeven said:

WOW! This could be Weigel's biggest acquisition yet (in terms of price)......

 

They're acquiring PMCM's WJLP for $62.5M!

 

The deal also includes NYC LP outlet WNWT-LD.

So follow up. Weigel has now completed the WJLP deal, as of today (1/7). 

Edited by CircleSeven
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3 minutes ago, TheSpeedKing said:

Good. I'm hoping Weigel axes the more...questionable subchannels, as well has audio simulcasts that are just consuming bandwidth. 

The Press radio stations, Newsmax and NTD/Falun Gong were dropped at the start of the year already (Newsmax would've been gone no matter what because of their rise on cable and just stopping that free carriage model). Scripps networks should be going pretty soon since WPXN and WFTY already carry them, and the Get After It/Luken trash will be gone ASAP. As for WZME still carrying Sonlife, that org loves to get long-term deals so it's going to be awhile before that's gone (and Weigel seems to be okay with other networks as long as they don't compete in their own spaces.

 

I do assume though that Wiegel will honor their existing deals with WCBS and Fox in the market in full, like they've done in Denver.

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With all of the moves Gray is making moving their stations off VHF to UHF....

I have to wonder if this is truly for trying to improve their signals in their markets (especially for 3.0 purposes)

...or if they are trying to reduce cap space by dumping the full-value VHF allocations?

 

In the markets where they are stuck on VHF with little chance of moving, at least they're making attempts to fill out the holes in the affected markets by establishing low-powered repeaters...

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33 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

New NPRM.

Back in November, the Alabama Educational Television Commission filed a petition for a new non-commercial allotment in Vernon, AL

When we're discussing about VHF-->UHF moves and LP-picking ("DRT"), a broadcaster willingly getting a VHF allocation is rare. 

 

On 1/11/2022 at 1:28 PM, tyrannical bastard said:

...or if they are trying to reduce cap space by dumping the full-value VHF allocations?

They're not trying to reduce cap space. They fully anticipate that the UHF discount will be eliminated again, so they purchase LPs en masse to avoid the cap. Gray will reach 36% of all US households when the UHF discount gets eliminated.

Edited by TheSpeedKing
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38 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

New NPRM.

Back in November, the Alabama Educational Television Commission filed a petition for a new non-commercial allotment in Vernon, AL

 

Maybe Alabama PBS is trying to get satellite must-carry rights in the Columbus-Tupelo DMA, which includes Lamar County and Vernon.

Edited by mvcg66b3r
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13 minutes ago, mvcg66b3r said:

Maybe Alabama PBS is trying to get satellite must-carry rights in the Columbus-Tupelo DMA, which includes Lamar County and Vernon.

Might as well cover the whole state, and some more! 

 

20 minutes ago, TheSpeedKing said:

They're not trying to reduce cap space. They fully anticipate that the UHF discount will be eliminated again, so they purchase LPs en masse to avoid the cap. Gray will reach 36% of all US households when the UHF discount gets eliminated.

And IMO, when this happens, expect to see more 1 station companies like BH Media, more network O&Os (Fox in particular) and Nexstar and Sinclair downsizing to just their core stations.

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A couple of notes.

 

One R&O. 

Also......

On 6/22/2021 at 12:22 AM, CircleSeven said:

So Rural Alaska will get a reprieve past the July 13 cutoff date.

 

The FCC has granted the State of Alaska a waiver to keep the analog signals of its 15 translator stations operating until January 10, 2022.

 

Many of its translators are in extreme rural parts of the state where that one translator is their only OTA source. 

 

So follow up to this.

 

The FCC has granted the State of Alaska a waiver of the the tolling rules and have extended the construction deadline for those 15 translators in the rural communities until July 11, 2022.

 

The reasoning is given the state's climate and short construction period (during the summer months), and also needing more time to replace outdated equipment (and its not just the transmitter). 

 

I have a feeling they might have to extend that date again in the future.

Edited by CircleSeven
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On 9/27/2021 at 9:44 PM, CircleSeven said:

New M&A. Looks like Byron Allen is grabbing another TV station in Hawaii.

 

Allen Media is acquiring Honolulu station KIKU from RNN National for $4M.

Follow up. Allen completed the KIKU acquisition on Monday (1/31). 

Don't know when they'll get rid of the endless infomercials they currently air. But the sooner they get that new programming on air, the better...
 

Edited by CircleSeven
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ShopHQ was killed ASAP, and they plan to re-launch the station as it was this month, with its pre-RNN and ShopHQ management intact (see comments). Right now it seems to be carrying a simulcast of their Vuit channel, including newscasts and skycams, and extended newscasts will be naturally a part of the new KIKU schedule.

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Some good news out of South Texas. Scripps is almost ready to light up KRIS 6's new UHF signal.

 

The station has filed an STA to operate KRIS 6 on its new RF 26 allotment at 812kW (over 80% of its authorized power (1MW)). 

 

I wished they would've filed this last month, so they would've gotten approval and lit up in time for the Winter Olympics, which is already underway.....

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay a couple of follow ups...

 

On 2/3/2022 at 2:41 PM, CircleSeven said:

Some good news out of South Texas. Scripps is almost ready to light up KRIS 6's new UHF signal.

 

The station has filed an STA to operate KRIS 6 on its new RF 26 allotment at 812kW (over 80% of its authorized power (1MW)). 

KRIS 6 lit up UHF 26 earlier this week. It'll keep VHF 13 rolling for a brief period. 

 

Also.....

On 11/21/2021 at 6:05 PM, CircleSeven said:

So big follow up regarding two new allotments (Ch. 9 Freeport, IL & Ch. 26 Eagle River, WI). 

 

The two are a part of 27 construction permits of full power television stations that'll be up for auction, which is tentatively scheduled to begin next June.

FCC has announced the date of the auction. June 7, 2022.

 

Also, there's a noticable change. It appears they've lowered the starting bidding prices of the allotments.

 

For example, the Syracuse allotment (the biggest prize in this auction), the starting bidding price for that allotment last fall was $1M. They've knocked it down to $750K. And the majority of the other allotments, the start price for those were $200K. It's now $150K.

 

 

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5 hours ago, sanewsguy said:

And in a long sign of the times, nothing in the FAQ about an audio simulcast on 87.7, which they fought and lost to keep in 2009 (I assume once SBG came in, they said 'stop it' and ended the efforts). One good thing about the phone age is that any TV station can technically be 'on the radio' if their stream audio is converted to Bluetooth/plugged directly into a head unit.

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