WYBE (MiND TV) being sold for spectrum?

[Unregistered]

A new post on their website makes it look likely- http://www.mindtv.org/2014/help-determine-our-future/

I'll really miss having France 24, MHz Worldview, RT & NHK World all available OTA (as I'm not a cable subscriber). All of those channels DO however stream online, so they won't be gone for good. It just seems like a real disservice for anyone without an internet or cable subscription to lose those news sources.

 

[Unregistered]

I'd prefer to see "spectrum" come from those all-infomercial, all-the-time stations, which are a complete waste of bandwidth. But, as pointed out, those foreign news channels are available online. If people want to do without cable (including satellite or fiber optics) or Internet, that's their choice but don't come crying because you can't see Putin-TV any more.

I'd also prefer to get rid of useless channels and make space for channels six and 12 in the UHF band, with everybody else. Those so-called HD antennas are worthless for six and 12. Clear out VHF and expand the FM band.

According to the article, WYBE is holding public meetings and conference calls next week to give anybody who cares to do so a chance to complain, but it sounds like they've already made up their minds. It also sounds like viewers are not pledging and corporations are not sponsoring, so people have already voted with their credit cards. If money were coming in, this would not have been brought up.

It's curious that none of the other public stations in the region are actively seeking to buy the channel 35 license.

Channel 35 was the original home of WHYY-TV. And their studios and transmitter originally housed commercial classical station WFLN-FM.

 

[Unregistered]

WYBE to be sold for spectrum?

And which public broadcaster would buy?

WHYY? For what reason?
A Delaware-only public broadcaster? (trade for WPPX?) Could that really work?
WLVT has made sufficient inroads on cable without needing a strong over-the-air signal in Philly.
WITF and WVIA wouldn't bother.
Empire building by Thirteen?

Other equally unlikely or far-fetched scenarios (sorry, couldn't come up with any near-fetched ones):

New home for UniMas or MundoFox?
KJWP expansion/replacement?
WWJT-LP (channel 7) expansion/replacement?
Year-round yule log?
Test Pattern TV? (all test patterns, all the time)

 

[Bill_W]

It's curious that none of the other public stations in the region are actively seeking to buy the channel 35 license.

Why would they have to? WHYY has 3 channels on the air with just their WHYY licence. In addition to TV12, we have Y2 and Yinfo. Channel 39 also has two additional subchannels and channel 23 used to a subchannel when it was NJN. I guess if WNET wanted to, they could run two additional channels on NJTV's WNJS. And all these subchannels are carried by both FiOS and Xfinity.

 

[Unregistered]

WNET 13 also own Long Island Public Television and NJ Public Television, plus various sub-channels.
CBS owns both CBS3 and CW57.
NBC/Comcast owns NBC10 and TeleMundo62.

You can't have too much bandwidth.
WHYY-TV could use WYBE and its sub-channels for additional counter-programming or to reach various untargeted and unserved demos. Something other than foreign news. Or maybe foreign news would be more viable as part of a larger public broadcasting operation than it is as a stand-alone.

 

[ding12]

Perhaps another option is selling to Daystar. Daystar programming would be complement well with the full power TBN station on WGTW to provide more choices in that category of television. Daystar operates some non commercial licenses.