Yet, WUNI has an application to move to the "candelabra" / Cabot Street tower in Needham. WNEU and WUTF are also moving to Needham - so assuming both applications are approved - OTA viewers will be able to receive nearly all Boston area stations from the Needham towers, except WBPX, which will be weaker, and in a different direction for most viewers. Not easy to understand....
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Latest Area Repack Developments
- Thread starter Channel 83
- Start date
Yet, WUNI has an application to move to the "candelabra" / Cabot Street tower in Needham. WNEU and WUTF are also moving to Needham - so assuming both applications are approved - OTA viewers will be able to receive nearly all Boston area stations from the Needham towers, except WBPX, which will be weaker, and in a different direction for most viewers. Not easy to understand....
I'm with you. I fail to understand the logic behind this. As you said, Boston-area viewers post-repack will have the convenience of pointing their OTA antenna in just one direction, and be able to receive almost all stations but WBPX.
Not only that, but doesn't ION already have WXPG in Concord, NH? Why move to a TX site where you will end up with more coverage overlap with a co-owned station???
The only way this could possibly make any sense is if there is another shoe still left to drop.
I guess we'll just have to stay tuned.
I'm with you. I fail to understand the logic behind this. As you said, Boston-area viewers post-repack will have the convenience of pointing their OTA antenna in just one direction, and be able to receive almost all stations but WBPX.
Not only that, but doesn't ION already have WXPG in Concord, NH? Why move to a TX site where you will end up with more coverage overlap with a co-owned station???
The only way this could possibly make any sense is if there is another shoe still left to drop.
I guess we'll just have to stay tuned.
The coverage maps shows only small differences in the area covered, so it doesn't seem worth moving for that. The biggest change is in direction. They have to replace the transmitter and antenna due to the repack, whether they move or not, and will be paid for that, so there won't be much cost difference. Maybe it is as simple as leasing cost - the FM128 tower is owned by American Tower and has 10 or more other stations on it, the Hudson tower is owned by Univision, and assuming WUNI is approved to move to Needham, will have only no stations on it, other than WBPX if they can move there. So maybe Univision just wants to collect enough rent to pay maintenance costs?
Check out other ION stations currently located on American Towers. Many (not all) have either applications or permits to move to other towers. In Houston, ION wasn't repacked but has already moved towers; in Philadelphia, the station has moved to a new tower under STA until the repack arrives; and in Miami, they had moved to a new tower under STA and then transitioned to their new channel on the first day of their phase.
- Trip
Another TV forum has hinted about WHPX-TV (ION) channel 26 of New London moving closer to Hartford soon. Presently, their tower is in Montville, roughly between New London and Norwich. Oddly, the ION station for Rhode Island, WPXQ-TV channel 69 of Block Island/Providence, isn't that far from them, as their tower is in Exeter, RI. Not too far from the Connecticut border. In fact, I picked them up a couple of times when living in New Britain, CT (southern Hartford County).
Just doing a bit of poking around last night on rabbitears.info, and noticed that WCRN-LD, licensed to Providence, is listed as "off the air". I don't remember WCRN previously being listed as "off the air" (assuming my rapidly aging memory is correct)...LOL.
If, by some chance, WCRN exits the scene entirely, and leaves its post-repack frequency of UHF Channel 30 vacant, could this open up an opportunity for any station(s) in Manchester / Boston or New Bedford / Providence to somehow improve its situation regarding signal / coverage?
If, by some chance, WCRN exits the scene entirely, and leaves its post-repack frequency of UHF Channel 30 vacant, could this open up an opportunity for any station(s) in Manchester / Boston or New Bedford / Providence to somehow improve its situation regarding signal / coverage?
Actually they have been on and off a few times in the last 3 or 4 years. Their latest request, that has been approved, is to move to a tower near I-95 in Foxboro and beam E/NE covering Brockton, Boston and many towns around Boston. They would have no signal at in RI, which could mean a city of license change, too. See map at bottom of this PDF:
https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076f916304060601631de4e0613a11
Another wildcard could be WHDT-LD. Owner Gunter Marksteiner is selling his only only full power station - WHDT in W. Palm Beach to Scripps, and will have only 4 translators left - 3 in Florida and WDHT-LD in Boston.
We have a winner! Unfortunately...I don't have a prize for you.
Upon reading the application online, there is mention made of negotiations having fallen through ($$$) with regard to the present FM-128 site.Just noticed on rabbitears.info that the status of WBPX's app to move to Hudson has changed from "pending" to "review".
We have a winner! Unfortunately...I don't have a prize for you.
Just noticed on rabbitears.info that the status of WBPX's app to move to Hudson has changed from "pending" to "review".
There is more info in the links at the bottom of this page:
https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/d...&id=25076f916896b5a901689f7e305610b5&goBack=N
The FM128 tower should have more room since WMFP shut down, though their antenna may still be there. Could this be a ploy to pressure American Tower to reduce the costs?
I made a few recent posts about the ION situation on AVSForum. https://www.avsforum.com/forum/45-local-hdtv-info-reception/153779-lexington-ky-hdtv-new-post.html
- Trip
- Trip
Didn't see those because they are in Lexington, KT thread.
ION could get concessions from American Tower, but they do have a one-time chance to move at virtually no cost, if they are being required to change channels by the repack. Since most older antennas and transmitters can't be re-tuned to another channel and must be replaced - the new equipment can just as easily be installed on a different tower and paid for under the repack funds.
There must be, or soon will be, a few empty towers nationwide.
Well...this little chapter of "The Great Repack" is resolved. WBPX got their requested location and pattern changes approved:
https://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php?appid=25076f916896b5a901689f7e305610b5&site=1
https://www.rabbitears.info/contour.php?appid=25076f916896b5a901689f7e305610b5&site=1
The value of the Needham tower location vs Boylston is so high to Entravision for WUTF that they are willing to move off their own Stiles Hill tower and begin paying rent to American Tower for the better "CBS" tower location - and similarly WUNI (assuming the FCC grants the application) will be moving from the Univision (their business partner) owned Hudson tower to the higher rent Needham "Candelabra" tower also owned by American Tower - while ION is so cheap they are giving up their prime Needham location and moving to Hudson just to save the difference in rent. I think I have that right <g>. The mysteries of the broadcast business...
Glad I saved this to my clipboard before posting - the CloudFlare scanner popped up and lost half of the post.
Excuse me, I meant RF channels.
I noticed an ad on Channel 5 telling over-the-air viewers to do a rescan on some date. I think someday in the first week of July.
Yes it has moved to 22. Judging from the signal strength and direction, I believe they are still broadcasting from Needham, though not necessarily from the FM128 antenna. If they had moved to Hudson, I would expect the signal from my location to still be good, but on a par with that of WUNI.
Sent you a scan earlier, Trip
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