New NJ VHF Station?

[stationless listener]

I'm not sure if anyone remembers but there was an attempt by a couple of stations in Nevada to relocate to NJ and Delaware, using an old rule about having at least one VHF station in each state. The FCC originally denied permission for that move but a U.S. appellate court has reversed the decision.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/ar...cense_Reallocation_to_New_Jersey_Delaware.php

Still, no idea how that would be done if, indeed, the FCC has to now approve the reallocation. A spectrum move, perhaps?

 

[mdamico25]

Press Broacasting (the owners of Jersey Shore based "Thunder 106.3" and the "Breeze 107.1") is behind this one. They purchased two stations out west with the intent of migrating them East. One was to be allocated to Middletown Township, NJ (on VHF Channel 3) and the other one to the Wilmington, DE area (on Channel 5, I think). The argument for moving them east is that the areas these stations will be allocated to are "underserved" when it comes to local TV.

While this might look on paper, Press has no intentions of serving Monmouth/Ocean Counties or Wilmington with these stations. The "Middletown" station's proposed antenna site was either Empire or 4 Times Square (can't remember which one). The proposed antenna site for the "Wilmington" station was in the Roxborough Antenna Farm where most of the Philly TV stations come from.

If the FCC ends up granting these allocations, they should force Press to broadcast from the area that they are allocated to. I've always thought that Monmouth/Ocean could support a commerical TV station, but the pitfall is that it is too close to NYC and to a lesser degree Philadelphia to support TV station. The only attempt to have a commercial TV station in this area was back in the 1950s, when WRTV/Channel 58 was on the air from Eatontown, NJ for a few years. It was off the air by 1960, and a late 60s-early 70s attempt to bring it back failed which much of the equipment used to start up Channel 68 in Newark later in the '70s.

In a DTV world, VHF Lo-Band is almost useless. VHF DT 3 from Manhattan probably would not even reach Middletown. I think the real value of both these stations to Press is to obtain "must-carry" coverage on area cable systems so they can probably show endless infomercials and home shopping, ala WMCN/44 in Atlantic City, WRNN in Kingston, NY and others. I think Press would go the infomercial route for sure as the last time they programmed a rimshot independent station (Channel 65, Vineland, NJ) it failed was sold to the Home Shopping Network after a little over a year.

-Mike

 

[ansky212]

WWOR "My 9" moved to Secaucus decades ago and still does nothing to serve NJ. If they can't, I don't see how some small start up channel is going to do any better.

 

[TheBigA]

The state of NJ decided they're better off selling their own TV system to New York and Philly. If the state thinks it doesn't needs to serve the residents, why should private business? Even the non-commercial radio station in Newark decided to move its antenna to Manhattan.

 

[w9wi]

Well, that's interesting!

PMCM's proposals were to move a channel 3 station from Nevada to Middletown Twp, NJ and a channel 2 station from Wyoming to Wilmington, Delaware.

As noted, the Commission ruled those proposals weren't covered by the old law.

They did however rule the law did require them to allot a VHF channel to every state if it was feasible to do so. So, they allotted channel 4 to Atlantic City, NJ and channel 5 to Seaford, Delaware. Both channels have gone through the assignment process; the Atlantic City station is on the air (WACP), and the Seaford station has a construction permit. (WMDE) WACP's theoretical service contour easily covers Philadelphia, and WMDE's covers both Baltimore and Washington. Presumably, the stations will receive must-carry protection in these three cities. (thus, their poor low-band VHF over-the-air coverage really doesn't much matter)

It is not technically feasible to assign any other VHF channel to either state. WPVI prevents the assignment of channel 6 in these areas, and a variety of other stations prevent the assignment of any high-VHF channel.

Note that they avoided assigning the channels requested by PMCM. I don't know this as a fact, but it sure looks like the FCC was hedging their bets, in case the courts upheld PMCM's appeal.

It will be interesting to see whether they bother with the Wilmington station..... I don't see where Wilmington can support a commercial TV station on its own, and I think with WACP on the air it's going to be pretty difficult to make a go of it with *another* commercial station serving Philadelphia.

 

[mdamico25]

With the addition of WACP/4 in Atlantic City, the Philadelphia TV market is indeed oversaturated with TV signals. It will indeed be interesting to see if Channel 2 Wilmington makes it to the air. The situation was much the same down there 25 years ago-with the demise of WKBS/48 in 1983, there was a rush to bring new stations to the air- channels 57, 61 and 65. 57 and 61 went bankrupt. 65 was sold to HSN after almost going bankrupt. Incidentally, 61 was licensed to Wilmington. It couldn't support a station in 1986. Not sure about now.

Back to the New York market, one could argue that the NY market is oversaturared with 'rimshot' signals- including WMBC, WRNN, WLNY and WSAH. 'IF' Channel 3 targets Monmouth County, it shouldn't be in competition with any of these stations. But, like I said earlier, I think Press' goal is to target NYC with infomercials or home shopping.

One more questions, if either of these stations move east, would Press have to replace the station(s) that move with another one if they represent the only TV service allocated to their respective cities?

-mike

 

[w9wi]

One more questions, if either of these stations move east, would Press have to replace the station(s) that move with another one if they represent the only TV service allocated to their respective cities?

Y'know, that's a very good point. Both stations *are* the only stations licensed to their cities.

However, there *were* second stations in each city. In the Jackson/Wilmington case, the second station was not deleted until after PMCM filed the request to move. In the Ely/Middletown case, I don't have the information -- but strongly suspect the same thing, the second station wasn't deleted until after the PMCM application was filed.

I don't think it would be difficult at all for PMCM to replace them if need be. Just leave the existing stations on the air.

 

[Bob1370]

All this will change soon as the FCC re-aligns the TV band again to shift TV service off the upper UHF channels (above channel 40 or 45) for broadband wireless data service.

When that happens, we're likely to see heritage VHFs pushed back to their old pre-2009 channels (eg. WCBS back on Channel 2 from 54-60 mHz) with ERPs equal to their old analog visual ERPs. Other stations will be jammed into the UHF band, or into VHF channels open in the market, without regard to whether or not there's another station on the next adjacent channel up or down from it. If there's a channel that's open in a market and unoccupied by anyone within 170 miles, it'll be filled. In the digital age, you don't have to worry any more about a station on, let's say, Channel 12, interfering with another station on the same market on Channel 13. If co-channel station separation is your only worry, you can cram all of today's 2,000 existing stations into the space from Channel 2 through Channel 45 and auction off the rest to the broadband service providers. The LPTVs, by and large, will either go away (they were always subsidiary spectrum users) or have to go digital and upgrade to full power.

 

[w9wi]

All this will change soon as the FCC re-aligns the TV band again to shift TV service off the upper UHF channels (above channel 40 or 45) for broadband wireless data service.

When that happens, we're likely to see heritage VHFs pushed back to their old pre-2009 channels (eg. WCBS back on Channel 2 from 54-60 mHz) with ERPs equal to their old analog visual ERPs.

The law doesn't allow the FCC to *force* stations to move from UHF to VHF, nor from VHF-high to VHF-low. Stations can *volunteer* to do so (probably in return for some auction revenue) but I doubt any Big 4 network affiliate will volunteer. (at least, not in large markets)

The LPTVs, by and large, will either go away (they were always subsidiary spectrum users) or have to go digital and upgrade to full power.

There is no path for LPTVs to upgrade to full power. There's nothing to prevent a LPTV from applying for a full-power license on the same basis as everyone else -- but applications can only be accepted during "filing windows"; no such window is currently open or scheduled; and many observers believe there will never be another filing window for new full-power stations.

They are already required to convert to digital within a bit less than three years.

My suspicion is that the LPTVs will indeed find themselves forced to low-band VHF. This PMCM thing will be serious bad news for LPTVs in the Mid Atlantic area; it appears likely no low-VHF LPTVs will be possible in New Jersey or bordering areas.

 

[N1WVQ]

From what I've read, I hope PMCM doesn't get these allocations.

 

[w9wi]

It shall be the policy of the Federal Communications Commission to allocate channels for very high frequency commercial television broadcasting in a manner which ensures that not less than one such channel shall be allocated to each State, if technically feasible. In any case in which [a] licensee of a very high frequency commercial television broadcast station notifies the Commission to the effect that such licensee will agree to the reallocation of its channel to a community within a State in which there is allocated no very high frequency commercial television broadcast channel at the time [of] such notification, the Commission shall, notwithstanding any other provision of law, order such reallocation and issue a license to such licensee for that purpose pursuant to such notification for a term of not to exceed 5 years as provided in Section 307(d) of the Communications Act of 1934.
7

47 U.S.C.A. Sec. 331

By my reading the court properly interpreted the law -- the FCC was wrong to assume it only applied to mutually-exclusive moves, where the channel could not be used in the Delaware/New Jersey community and the original community at the same time.

I think more far likely than not, these allocations *will* happen.

 

[pab]

Southern NJ lost at least two allocations in the DTV transition: 59 in Vineland and 36 (Non-Com) in Atlantic City. They should be replaced.

 

[Bob1370]

"The law doesn't allow the FCC to *force* stations to move from UHF to VHF, nor from VHF-high to VHF-low."

Actually it does. The FCC can move a station anyplace it wants to as long as the result is improved coverage with reduced interference, and if more stations are brought into a market, all the better according to the rules. They rewrote the allocation tables repeatedly between 1948 and 1962 to squeeze more stations into the northeastern US and reduce interference. Case in point--in 1949 the allocations in Buffalo called for stations on channels 4, 7 and 13; by 1952, 2,4, 7, 17, 23, 29 and 49. In Rochester it went from 2, 6 and 11 in 1949 to just 5, 10, 15 and 27 in 1952, to 8, 10, 13, 21 and 31 in 1962, and in Syracuse, from 5, 8 and 10 in 1948 to 3, 8, 24 and 43 in 1952 to 3. 5, 9, 24, 43 and 68 in 1962. Albany/Schenectady/Troy went from just Channel 4 in 1948 to 6, 23, 35 and 41 in 1952, to 6. 10, 13, 17, 23, 45 in 1962. Utica got moved from Ch. 13 to ch. 2 in 1959, making room for full power Channel 13 stations in both Albany and Rochester. These kinds of moves are doable today. In some markets (especially in the Northeast) reduced interference and improved coverage would be the likely result if the heritage Vs were pushed back to their old channels and ERPs.

 

[KeithE4]

Southern NJ lost at least two allocations in the DTV transition: 59 in Vineland and 36 (Non-Com) in Atlantic City. They should be replaced.

IIRC, all allocations nationwide that were not already applied for were voided after the DTV transistion. I don't know when, or if, any new allocations will be created.

 

[w9wi]

"The law doesn't allow the FCC to *force* stations to move from UHF to VHF, nor from VHF-high to VHF-low."

Actually it does. The FCC can move a station anyplace it wants to as long as the result is improved coverage with reduced interference, and if more stations are brought into a market, all the better according to the rules.

http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20120213/CRPT-112hrpt-HR3630.pdf

Scroll down to page 186, line 13:

(3) NO INVOLUNTARY RELOCATION FROM UHF
14 TO VHF.—In making any reassignments under para
15 graph (1)(B)(i), the Commission may not involun
16 tarily reassign a broadcast television licensee—
17 (A) from an ultra high frequency television
18 channel to a very high frequency television
19 channel; or
20 (B) from a television channel between the
21 frequencies from 174 megahertz to 216 mega
22 hertz to a television channel between the fre
23 quencies from 54 megahertz to 88 megahertz

_________________________________________________

They rewrote the allocation tables repeatedly between 1948 and 1962 to squeeze more stations into the northeastern US and reduce interference. Case in point--in 1949 the allocations in Buffalo called for stations on channels 4, 7 and 13; by 1952, 2,4, 7, 17, 23, 29 and 49.

You're looking at the old analog rules, and a very different time when VHF frequencies were considered *preferable*. Chances are the only source of RF noise in the typical home back then was the TV itself.

Certainly, moving the ex-VHF stations back to their old assignments with their analog-era powers would result in a major improvement in *theoretical* coverage. If we could get rid of all the computers/alarm panels/smartphones/metal wall studs/computerized microwaves/??? and ensure everyone had the same antenna they had in 1960, they'd probably also see an improvement in *actual* coverage.

Of course, the gun control debate is a tempest in a teacup compared to what would happen if you tried to fully enforce Part 15!

 

[dhett]

Southern NJ lost at least two allocations in the DTV transition: 59 in Vineland and 36 (Non-Com) in Atlantic City. They should be replaced.

IIRC, all allocations nationwide that were not already applied for were voided after the DTV transistion. I don't know when, or if, any new allocations will be created.

Some allocations were voided that had active applications for them as well. Channel 43, Coolidge AZ, for example. An applicant had actually modified their application to specify digital operations, and still had their application rejected as the FCC voided the allocation.

 

[stevations]

Why is the maximum power less for digital tv? I think it is a million watts on UHF instead of 5 million watts.

 

[dhett]

DTV doesn't require as much power, plus IIRC, the power output expressed for analog stations was peak power output while for digital stations, it's average power output.

 

[w9wi]

Why is the maximum power less for digital tv? I think it is a million watts on UHF instead of 5 million watts.

True. It's also 45 kilowatts on VHF-low vs. 100 kilowatts in analog, and 160 kilowatts on VHF-high vs. 316.

Those figures are a bit misleading though. Analog watts are smaller than digital watts.. I mean, they're measured differently.

The transmitted power of a TV station -- analog or digital -- is always changing. We say WSMV is transmitting 42 kilowatts of digital power but in fact, the transmitted power is almost never 42 kilowatts -- and the FCC knows that & is fine with it. Similarly, WSMV's old analog license specified 100 kilowatts of analog power -- but in fact, the analog power usually wasn't 100 kilowatts & that was fine by the FCC.

- With analog TV, you can predict when the station will transmit the most power it will ever transmit. Maximum power happens every 63 milliseconds.
- With digital, you *can't* predict maximum power.

So...

- for analog TV, power was measured at the predictable times when the station was transmitting the most power it ever would transmit. The power was usually lower.
- for digital TV, power is *averaged* over time. Half the time, WSMV's power is more than 42 kilowatts -- half the time, it's less than 42 kilowatts.

As a fair estimate, WSMV's 42 kilowatts average digital power is 84 kilowatts peak power; and their 100 kilowatts peak analog power is 50 kilowatts average power. So really, the maximum powers of analog and digital stations are not all that different.

 

[MickeyD]

Well, that's interesting!

PMCM's proposals were to move a channel 3 station from Nevada to Middletown Twp, NJ and a channel 2 station from Wyoming to Wilmington, Delaware.

As noted, the Commission ruled those proposals weren't covered by the old law.

They did however rule the law did require them to allot a VHF channel to every state if it was feasible to do so. So, they allotted channel 4 to Atlantic City, NJ and channel 5 to Seaford, Delaware. Both channels have gone through the assignment process; the Atlantic City station is on the air (WACP), and the Seaford station has a construction permit. (WMDE) WACP's theoretical service contour easily covers Philadelphia, and WMDE's covers both Baltimore and Washington. Presumably, the stations will receive must-carry protection in these three cities. (thus, their poor low-band VHF over-the-air coverage really doesn't much matter)

It is not technically feasible to assign any other VHF channel to either state. WPVI prevents the assignment of channel 6 in these areas, and a variety of other stations prevent the assignment of any high-VHF channel.

Note that they avoided assigning the channels requested by PMCM. I don't know this as a fact, but it sure looks like the FCC was hedging their bets, in case the courts upheld PMCM's appeal.

It will be interesting to see whether they bother with the Wilmington station..... I don't see where Wilmington can support a commercial TV station on its own, and I think with WACP on the air it's going to be pretty difficult to make a go of it with *another* commercial station serving Philadelphia.

The move of the Press TV stations wasn't covered by the old law yet the FCC auctioned off two VHF frequencies based upon the same law.