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WLNY going Cable TV only

K

kickass367

Guest
I'm hearing that CBS will sell the transmitter and license of WLNY Channel 55 but keep the "WLNY 10/55" brand as a cable only channel.
 
Did you copy that word-for-word from the NYRMB?

But seriously, in all the talk yesterday about what radio station could/would be sold, no one even brought up this possibility.

The FCC is looking to slash more TV spectrum to give to broadband, as we all know. WLNY's channel 47 falls in that target zone. CBS could simply keep the stream and plug it into a subchannel of WCBS-TV.

Of course, that defeats the purpose of spending $55 million for a duopoly partner in the first place.

Yes, Long Island viewers will get whacked again if this becomes reality. How's that WLNY "Long Island bureau" coming along?
 
Rollo-Smokes said:
The FCC is looking to slash more TV spectrum to give to broadband, as we all know. WLNY's channel 47 falls in that target zone. CBS could simply keep the stream and plug it into a subchannel of WCBS-TV.

Of course, that defeats the purpose of spending $55 million for a duopoly partner in the first place.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily -- they don't have to give up the WLNY license (nor the must-carry rights that go with it) to collect some incentive auction money for channel 47. There are two routes:

1. Enter into a channel-sharing agreement with another station. (WCBS-TV being the obvious choice:) , but they could arrange something with someone else) As you suggest, WLNY becomes a subchannel of WCBS-TV -- it retains its must-carry rights on cable/satellite -- and CBS collects auction revenue for channel 47.

2. Volunteer to move WLNY to a VHF channel. High-band looks pretty full to me but allocations engineers have been performing magic lately.. Low-band VHF is fairly open -- they probably can't use 4 due to WACP nor 6 due to WPVI, but 2/3/5 would probably work. Again, they retain their must-carry rights & collect auction revenue.

The problem with #1 is that moving in with WCBS-TV limits what can be done with WCBS' bandwidth -- do they have to give up on subchannels to retain decent quality? #2 means pretty much giving up on OTA viewing -- which may not be a big deal on Long Island where I would imagine cable/satellite penetration is unusually high.
 
Yeah...the OP did copy word for word.

In any case, moving to a Low V or a channel sharing arrangement might not help get CBS under the ownership cap. They will probably have to surrender outright, while retaining their must carry status. Not to mention that 55's carriage can be negotiated as a package with WCBS-TV. Brilliant move.
 
Sorry I didn't give proper props to Allen Sniffen from the NYRMB board. Was in a hurry to get the word out in my initial post.
 
If a station maintains its license through channel sharing, it still holds a separate license, so it would still count toward the ownership cap. I don't see how that helps. Similarly, if a station completely gives up its license, I fail to see how it retains must-carry, because the license is gone at that point. Unless I've missed something important, this wouldn't really help anything from a "keeping CBS under the ownership cap when they buy WRXP" point of view.

- Trip
 
The FCC has suggested that there may be a possibility that a station could maintain its must-carry rights even if it turns in its license... It's not very clear right now.
 
My guess: WLNY will become a "2.2" subchannel of WCBS-TV, which would allow it to continue to get "must-carry" on area cable systems.

As for WLNY's current over-the-air transmitter and license??

I suspect religious broadcasters like Daystar and Trinity (the latter has a station way up in the Hudson Valley, but I don't think it's broadcast signal reaches New York City) would be very interested in the WLNY license so they can get on cable in metro New York as a "must-carry" outlet.

Most of TBN's cable subscribers (and probably most of Daystar's cable subscribers as well) are on systems where over-the-air signals of TBN-owned or affiliated stations have to be carried by cable systems under "must-carry" rules.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
My guess: WLNY will become a "2.2" subchannel of WCBS-TV, which would allow it to continue to get "must-carry" on area cable systems.
Click to expand...

I don't think must-carry rules apply to subchannels. The current 2.2 (CBS+) isn't carried on any cable systems that I'm aware of. I know for sure it's not on Verizon Fios.
 
ansky212 said:
I don't think must-carry rules apply to subchannels. The current 2.2 (CBS+) isn't carried on any cable systems that I'm aware of. I know for sure it's not on Verizon Fios.
Click to expand...

Must-carry rules don't apply to digital subchannels. However, CBS does have considerable leverage in their negotiations with cable and satellite providers. You can be sure that if CBS wants it, their subchannels will be part of any retransmission consent negotiations going forward. This is not WPIX we are talking about here. WCBS-TV is a must on cable and satellite.
 
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