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The future of WTVY-FM and TV

Now that Panama City has a LP CBS (which looks like it might be a half powered station) what's the future of WTVY? Will they move the transmitter up to Enterprise?

Also, is the FM using the same tower as the TV?

-Rob
 
No, WTVY-FM transmits from east of Dothan. Looks like it may be the same tower as WDHN-18, but I'm not sure. WDJR used to be on the WTVY tower, but had to move to accommodate the DT-36 antenna. They built a 1000' tower nearby.
 
What about WTVY-TV 36?

Do we know how much pwr Panama City's CBS sends out?

-Rob
 
WECP-LD (the new Panama City station) operates at 15,000 watts. Vs. 1,000,000 for WTVY-TV. (although WTVY's transmitter is of course at a considerable distance from Panama City) WECP holds a LPTV license; 15,000 watts is the maximum for this class of license.

While I suspect it's understood, I'll mention that WECP, WTVY-TV, and for that matter WJHG are co-owned. WTVY-FM is not.
 
No wonder people complain about their breakup. I've noticed their lips are not synced with the audio on the station too. If they want to be a true CBS affiliate, why don't they apply for a full pwr license and cover the panhandle?

I know Cox is pulling in Ch 18.1 because 7.3 isn't in high def.

-Rob
 
Neil Griffin said:
No, WTVY-FM transmits from east of Dothan. Looks like it may be the same tower as WDHN-18, but I'm not sure. WDJR used to be on the WTVY tower, but had to move to accommodate the DT-36 antenna. They built a 1000' tower nearby.

WTVY-FM is not on the WDHN tower but the old WTVY-TV tower in Webb which is 3 miles east of WDHN. WDHN's tower is only 600ft max while the WTVY-FM tower is 1,100 ft.
As for WTVY-TV moving its transmitter, not likely that a station going to relocate a 2,000 ft stick from Bethlehem, FL Just because of the launch of WECP in PC. Hell, I can't even get WECP over the air in PC Beach. Even though it isn't on cable in Panama City anymore, WTVY still puts a strong signal on the coast. During football season, I use a small indoor HD antenna to watch WTVY in PC Beach because they have SEC Network games in HD. WTVY's signal is stonger than WJHG or WMBB at my house on the west end of PC Beach.
 
Rob-42 said:
If they want to be a true CBS affiliate, why don't they apply for a full pwr license and cover the panhandle?

The FCC hasn't accepted an application for a new full-power TV station since 2006.* Many observers believe there will never be another new full-power station.



* not counting two channels an obsolete law required them to make available in specific states, not Florida.
 
Panama City does have one full power license that is broadcasting tourist info with a low power signal. It wouldn't be out of the rhelm of possibilities for someone to make a deal to upgrade PCB's "Beach TV" station to full power for CBS and move Beach TV to a LP signal.

As for Dothan, if the need exists I would assume WFBD could be moved into the market.
 
Any state with no VHF can get one if an engineer can fit it in. NYC and Philly are getting new stations from Connecticut and Delaware as the COLs. It was a very interesting case. Look it up on google if you haven't already heard about it.
 
Zach said:
w9wi said:
* not counting two channels an obsolete law required them to make available in specific states, not Florida.

??? What law is that?

47 USC § 331: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/331

It was enacted in 1982 and requires the FCC to assign at least one VHF commercial channel to each state if technically feasible. Basically the purpose of the law was to save the license of WWOR channel 9 in New York, which was in trouble for non-engineering violations. The law required the FCC to renew the station's license if it agreed to move to New Jersey.

Technically, the law also required the FCC to renew the license of any station willing & able to move to Delaware -- but Philadelphia stations were the only ones for which such a move would be technically feasible, and none of them were in trouble. They were all better off staying in Philly.

==

Fast forward 30 years, through the digital transition. Nobody ever did volunteer to move a VHF station to Delaware. You still punch in "09" to watch WWOR on an antenna -- but the station is actually broadcasting on a UHF frequency.

And... since nobody wanted to use low-band VHF channels 2-6, it was technically feasible to assign as many as four VHF channels to these two states. (channel 6 is in use in Philadelphia)

Someone bought VHF digital stations in Wyoming & Nevada; offered to move them to New Jersey (transmitting from Manhattan) and Delaware (transmitting from Philadelphia); and noted that they believed Section 331 required the FCC to take them up on their offer.

The FCC argued that the law only anticipated moves where the station could not operate from its old location and New Jersey at the same time. At the same time, they agreed that the law required them to assign a VHF channel to each of these states. They assigned channel 4 to Atlantic City, New Jersey and channel 5 to Seaford, Delaware.

They then auctioned the two channels. Same firm bought both, and the Atlantic City station is on the air.

Meanwhile... the firm that bought the Western stations appealed, not seeing anything in the law that prevented a long-distance move. The court agreed & ordered the FCC to approve the channel reassignments -- which happened late last week.

===

The law only required the FCC to assign VHFs to states that didn't already have one. At the end of the digital transition the only two such states were New Jersey and Delaware. (and since the FCC has now assigned VHF channels to both those states, the law is now moot)

(and this is of course all way off topic as Florida had plenty of VHF analog channels and still has plenty of VHF digital channels!)
 
The most intriguing part of W9WI's story is that apparently only one broadcast attourney was camped out on the steps of the FCC the day after the analog shutdown. The WOR story is part of every Broadcasting 101 textbook so more than one person SHOULD have seen this lucrative opportunity. Can't get a broadcast license from the FCC? Go visit your Congressman!

Also, just to find a way to relate this story to Dothan. The main cable system in Dothan was the last one I know of that carried WOR and WPIX.
 
Thank you for that explanation, W9WI.

For some reason I was thinking there was some new rule about stations vacating RF channels 3 & 4. Google has just released their "white spaces" database feature as a public beta, and it shows which TV channels can be used for, er, whatever those white spaces are going to be used for. Anyway, there is apparently some blanket nationwide limit on not using channels 3 & 4 (as well as 37 for radio astronomy, and other blocks in selected cities where two way radios operate in the UHF spectrum.)

When you said "two channels" I thought it might have something to do with the 3/4 blockage for white space use.
 
Zach said:
Thank you for that explanation, W9WI.

For some reason I was thinking there was some new rule about stations vacating RF channels 3 & 4. Google has just released their "white spaces" database feature as a public beta, and it shows which TV channels can be used for, er, whatever those white spaces are going to be used for. Anyway, there is apparently some blanket nationwide limit on not using channels 3 & 4 (as well as 37 for radio astronomy, and other blocks in selected cities where two way radios operate in the UHF spectrum.)

When you said "two channels" I thought it might have something to do with the 3/4 blockage for white space use.

Ah. I didn't read that part but I would *speculate* that 3 and 4 were put off-limits for white space devices to protect those RF modulators feeding analog TVs. Hard to imagine there are a significant number of these things still in service!

I did see an ad for a white-space device a few months ago. The FCC obviously felt industry would find interesting, exotic new things that could be done with this spectrum.

What the device in question actually does....

...is to feed "digital signage" (the output of a PC) wirelessly to standard DTV receivers using ATSC. In other words, it's a low-powered digital TV transmitter.
 
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