moving an LPTV station

[nd2023]

Would it be possible to buy an underperforming LPTV station anywhere in the country, and move it to channel 6 in Miami?

I'm wondering this because I read somewhere that a full power channel 2 is moving from Wyoming to Delaware.

 

[Slinky]

Would it be possible to buy an underperforming LPTV station anywhere in the country, and move it to channel 6 in Miami?

I'm wondering this because I read somewhere that a full power channel 2 is moving from Wyoming to Delaware.

The Delaware move is because of a law that allows any VHF to move to a state without a commercial VHF licensed to it. NJ and DE are the only states that fit that criteria. (WWOR is now a UHF station and Delaware has not had a commercial VHF since channel 12 went PBS.)

So, no.

 

[TexasTom]

A company called MS Communications has tried to do a couple of long distance moves of LPTV stations, and the FCC rejected the moves. One of the rejected moves was from El Dorado, AR to Garland, TX (the latter being in the Dallas/Fort Worth area).

Based on the FCC's response to the MS Communications applications, it seems unlikely that you would be able to get approval to move an LPTV from smoe distant location to Miami.

Generally, the FCC will give serious consideration to moves where there is at least some overlap between the coverage area at the old and new locations. Also, it helps that the move either not involve a channel change or if there is a channel change that it be a so-called "displacement application" (ie, the station either got bumped by a full power station or is operating "out of core").

 

[ontheair247]

Just recently I read something online of an LPTV moving from Port Jervis, NY or thereabouts to 4 Times Square in NYC. The article mentioned something like as long as any portion of the old coverage area overlapped any of the new it was ok??

 

[dhett]

Just recently I read something online of an LPTV moving from Port Jervis, NY or thereabouts to 4 Times Square in NYC. The article mentioned something like as long as any portion of the old coverage area overlapped any of the new it was ok??

If the new coverage area overlaps the old coverage area, it is treated as a minor change, rather than a major change. Major changes require a much higher level of justification with the FCC, plus, the FCC isn't processing major changes right now until they wrap up the DTV conversion.

That having been said, several stations have found a way to skirt the rule, thanks to understandably lax oversight of LPTVs by the FCC. Globe LPTV moved K30ES from Globe AZ to Phoenix, about 80 miles, by securing a minor change in location to a peak near Roosevelt Lake. The new coverage barely overlapped the old, and it was approved. They licensed the facility without it ever broadcasting, then immediately applied for a move to Usery Mountain in east Mesa, again with a new coverage barely overlapping the old. Again, it was approved. Unlike the Roosevelt Lake facilities, the Mesa facilities have actually broadcast a signal, albeit briefly. The station, since renamed as KFPB-LP, has now secured a move to the South Mountain antenna farm in Phoenix, basically trading coverage of about 20,000 persons for coverage of 4 million. Their community of license is still listed as Globe.

Another owner has used the same technique to move K25HU/K14NE-D from Kingman AZ to Las Vegas NV, although the final move has not yet been approved, and is trying to move K53IJ from Prescott AZ into Phoenix. K49IM/KJPO-LP is in the process of moving from Parker AZ to Phoenix, over 150 miles.

All of these changes are using the minor change loophole to secure a much larger potential audience (and station sale value). I would imagine that is what the Port Jervis station is also doing.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Globe LPTV moved K30ES from Globe AZ to Phoenix, about 80 miles, by securing a minor change in location to a peak near Roosevelt Lake....(snip)...then immediately applied for a move to Usery Mountain in east Mesa...(snip)...The station...has now secured a move to the South Mountain antenna farm in Phoenix, basically trading coverage of about 20,000 persons for coverage of 4 million. Their community of license is still listed as Globe.

Globe LPTV is hereby declared as the 2009 winner of the "Bury Your COL" award.

(Much better trickery than the FM rimshot hiding the legal ID between spots 8 and 9
in the :50 stopset.)

Past Arizona winners include KPNX(TV) Mesa, who for years IDed as "Phoenix-Mesa,"
along with "KSAZ 580 Marana-Tucson-Phoenix" (now El Gigante Cinco Ochenta).

This is all not to be confused with AM daytimers that don't even ID themselves at
sign-on and sign-off...yup, we've got the all-time winner in that category here in
Scottsdale! ;D

 

[nathannah]

Just recently I read something online of an LPTV moving from Port Jervis, NY or thereabouts to 4 Times Square in NYC. The article mentioned something like as long as any portion of the old coverage area overlapped any of the new it was ok??

If the new coverage area overlaps the old coverage area, it is treated as a minor change, rather than a major change. Major changes require a much higher level of justification with the FCC, plus, the FCC isn't processing major changes right now until they wrap up the DTV conversion.

That having been said, several stations have found a way to skirt the rule, thanks to understandably lax oversight of LPTVs by the FCC. Globe LPTV moved K30ES from Globe AZ to Phoenix, about 80 miles, by securing a minor change in location to a peak near Roosevelt Lake. The new coverage barely overlapped the old, and it was approved. They licensed the facility without it ever broadcasting, then immediately applied for a move to Usery Mountain in east Mesa, again with a new coverage barely overlapping the old. Again, it was approved. Unlike the Roosevelt Lake facilities, the Mesa facilities have actually broadcast a signal, albeit briefly. The station, since renamed as KFPB-LP, has now secured a move to the South Mountain antenna farm in Phoenix, basically trading coverage of about 20,000 persons for coverage of 4 million. Their community of license is still listed as Globe.

Another owner has used the same technique to move K25HU/K14NE-D from Kingman AZ to Las Vegas NV, although the final move has not yet been approved, and is trying to move K53IJ from Prescott AZ into Phoenix. K49IM/KJPO-LP is in the process of moving from Parker AZ to Phoenix, over 150 miles.

All of these changes are using the minor change loophole to secure a much larger potential audience (and station sale value). I would imagine that is what the Port Jervis station is also doing.

Same thing here; in my town, Sheboygan, WI, we had a TBN translator, W16BS. After Charter added TBN to cable locally there was no reason for them to continue to maintain a translator so they sold it to an outlet called "Sheboygan Community Broadcasting" (quotes intentional), who immediately booted it off the air, got a CP for Channel 29 based in northern Ozaukee County south of Sheboygan and began broadcasting there. Then they sprung the last step; a new CP for the Milwaukee tower farm which will provide no signal to the "community" it "broadcasts" to at all. So they pretty much hop-skipped-jumped their way to Milwaukee.

The same thing is happening now with Fond du Lac's epic failure WWAZ, a Pappas station which carried FamilyNet and was pretty much a joke to their parent company, viewers and pay TV providers since they did have coverage within three market areas (Green Bay, Milwaukee and Madison), but no programming anyone watches. They went off the air last year because Pappas couldn't spare the cash for digital facilities, but with WFRV 5 now on UHF 39 permanently, they're also attempting a jump to the Milwaukee tower farm by switching from digital 44 to digital 5. The station's PFR is a joke, claiming they need to move to Milwaukee to serve Hispanic viewers as they're Spanish language (nope, they aren't and never will be since other stations in Milwaukee have Telemundo and Azteca, and Univision goes by cable here; nobody will watch Pappas' TuVision), and they have interference with tower partner WWRS (how can they have any interference if they don't have digital facilities to test?). Plus the entire point of Fond du Lac getting a station was to reduce the programming monotony from Milwaukee and Green Bay, but they had a lousy owner who didn't care to build it out.

 

[azumanga]

The same thing is happening now with Fond du Lac's epic failure WWAZ, a Pappas station which carried FamilyNet and was pretty much a joke to their parent company... The station's PFR is a joke, claiming they need to move to Milwaukee to serve Hispanic viewers as they're Spanish language (nope, they aren't and never will be since other stations in Milwaukee have Telemundo and Azteca, and Univision goes by cable here; nobody will watch Pappas' TuVision)...

The original intent was to provide Azteca programming to the Fox Valley, but that never happened, especially after since Pappas dissolved their agreement with Azteca. Even after Pappas started up their own TuVision service, they never bothered to switch WWAZ to that service, opting to keep it with FamilyNet until closing down.

 

[Markxxx]

Who's moving?

 

[w9wi]

The same thing is happening now with Fond du Lac's epic failure WWAZ, a Pappas station which carried FamilyNet and was pretty much a joke to their parent company... The station's PFR is a joke, claiming they need to move to Milwaukee to serve Hispanic viewers as they're Spanish language (nope, they aren't and never will be since other stations in Milwaukee have Telemundo and Azteca, and Univision goes by cable here; nobody will watch Pappas' TuVision)...

The original intent was to provide Azteca programming to the Fox Valley, but that never happened, especially after since Pappas dissolved their agreement with Azteca. Even after Pappas started up their own TuVision service, they never bothered to switch WWAZ to that service, opting to keep it with FamilyNet until closing down.

I strongly suspect the original intent was to cover both Madison and Milwaukee. They had an application in for quite some time hoping to operate at near-maximum (analog) facilities from a site in Dodge County roughly equidistant from the two large cities and FDL. The rumor I heard was that a tall tower there wouldn't pass FAA muster.

 

[FreddyE1977]

a company called Abacus Television had moved some LPTV's about 70 miles from Johnstown, PA to Pittsburgh, claiming that the FCC had approved the move due to bad economic conditions in Johnstown. I had never heard of the FCC doing that before but they ran locally for several years with home shopping (appear to have gone dark now, no $$ for digital I guess)

 

[kenglish]

Would it be possible to buy an underperforming LPTV station anywhere in the country, and move it to channel 6 in Miami?

Are you attempting/contemplating creating a pseudo-FM station?
Remember, the LPTVs have to go all-Digital sooner or later. So, in (maybe) three years, the "87.7FM" business is gone, since there will be no analog FM aural carrier on a channel-6 LD station.

 

[azumanga]

Would it be possible to buy an underperforming LPTV station anywhere in the country, and move it to channel 6 in Miami?

Are you attempting/contemplating creating a pseudo-FM station?
Remember, the LPTVs have to go all-Digital sooner or later. So, in (maybe) three years, the "87.7FM" business is gone, since there will be no analog FM aural carrier on a channel-6 LD station.

That is, unless the FCC provides some sort of exemption for stations that use channel 6 for radio.

 

[w9wi]

Would it be possible to buy an underperforming LPTV station anywhere in the country, and move it to channel 6 in Miami?

Are you attempting/contemplating creating a pseudo-FM station?
Remember, the LPTVs have to go all-Digital sooner or later. So, in (maybe) three years, the "87.7FM" business is gone, since there will be no analog FM aural carrier on a channel-6 LD station.

That is, unless the FCC provides some sort of exemption for stations that use channel 6 for radio.

Stranger things have happened but I'd be VERY surprised if the FCC grants a permanent exception for channel 6 to continue operating in analog. It's a backdoor route to radio that ties up 8 FM stations' worth of television spectrum for a single "radio" station while providing essentially no television service. It would be a complete waste of 82-87.5MHz in many of the nation's largest cities.

They have to accept it now as operations like WLFM and WNYZ are compliant with the rules as they stand. But I find it difficult to believe that when they establish the new rules for digital-only LPTV they'll make an exception for only a handful of stations at the expense of TV viewers and the audience of a potential expanded FM band.