CW said:
I think we just found the source of the antipathy for KUMY-LP.
A lot of LPTV stations are licensed as translators, but do not retransmit programming of another station, as one would expect a translator to operate. Somehow, the FCC overlooks it. Another head scratcher is where an LPTV station doesn't even come close to serving its city of license. A station licensed to Globe, Arizona, a small town in the mountains with a total area population of about 10,000, hadn't broadcast a watchable signal in years. (Yet another FCC head scratcher - how did it keep its license?) It got permission to move its transmitter location to a remote site serving nearly no one, but with a coverage area barely overlapping its previous area, thus qualifying for a minor change. Strangely enough, its new pattern had a significant lobe pointed at the Phoenix metro area. The station was licensed at the new location, but never broadcast a watchable signal. Almost immediately, they applied for a move into the Phoenix metro area, where they would serve a population of about 500,000. The new predicted coverage again barely overlapped the old, so it was a minor change. The station was granted the move, and this week, just licensed its facilities and now have a signal on the air for the first time in about 7 or 8 years. It's still licensed to Globe, although the signal doesn't come anywhere within 50 miles of the Globe area, but it now has 50X the potential viewership. Not a bad investment for the cost of a couple of FCC applications. And to add insult to injury, the station runs infomercials.
The FCC seems to have pretty much thrown enforcement of rules out the window when it comes to LPTV. Perhaps it's because they're expending so much time and effort on the DTV transition and its collateral damage. Maybe we'll see more enforcement once all the dust settles, but who knows?