Station’s Request to Remain on Channel 51 Opposed by CTIA
An Augusta, Ga., Fox affiliate’s request to keep the DTV channel it’s using was opposed by the CTIA, on the grounds that staying on channel 51 goes against the wireless association’s petition for the FCC to try to discourage use of that slot (CD April 29 p2). The request by WFXG to permanently substitute that channel for 31, assigned by the commission for its use after the 2009 DTV transition, was backed by another station there. WRDW’s new request to vacate the VHF band, where its viewers have had trouble getting the signal, to move to 31 from 12 is contingent on WFXG’s petition being granted. Filings were posted Wednesday to rulemaking 11624.
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CTIA and the Rural Cellular Alliance have asked the commission not to license any more stations to channel 51, as carriers seek to eventually remove all broadcasters because they want to introduce service in the lower 700 MHz A block. Broadcasters contend that request shouldn’t be granted and that winners of spectrum in the 2008 auction knew the risks of interference. The commission has granted many broadcasters’ requests to change channels following the DTV transition, and a lawyer for WFXG’s owner said she’s unaware of any petition that has been denied, though most petitions haven’t involved channel 51.
"As CTIA highlighted in its recently-filed Petition for Rulemaking … operations in this channel have the potential to cause interference to Lower 700 MHz A Block licensees and inhibit the deployment of beneficial mobile broadband services in this band,” the wireless association said. The record is clear and in several recent comments “A Block licensees describe first-hand how the presence of broadcast operations on Channel 51 is negatively affecting their ability to deploy broadband services,” CTIA said. Cavalier Wireless also opposed the channel 51 petition by WFXG, owned by Southeastern Media Holdings.
Southeastern makes no showing that its use of Channel 51 “would lead to improved, or even equal, service availability,” said Cavalier Wireless. “Rather, the sole justification for the Petition appears to be financial issues involving Petitioner.” The carrier said in this case “no question exists” on the availability of alternative DTV channels in the Augusta market and granting the request would “needlessly” introduce “added interference considerations into the existing spectrum equation."
Granting the request would let WRDW move from Channel 12, where viewers “have struggled” to get the digital signal, owner Gray Television said. “Based on its experience with other VHF and UHF digital facilities, Gray is confident that moving WRDW” will improve viewers’ ability to get the terrestrial signal, it said in comments backing WFXG. The company is among broadcasters that have gotten commission permission to change channels at other stations to help resolve signal propagation problems. Once WFXG’s request is granted, Gray asked that its channel allotment at 31 be assigned to WRDW.
Going to 31 improves chances WRDW can reach handheld and other mobile devices using an over-the-air signal, the station said in a separate petition also posted online by the commission on Wednesday. “UHF channels provide better coverage” for those types of devices, the broadcaster said. “While WRDW’s primary concern is restoring service to analog viewers, the station would embrace the opportunity to bring over-the-air mobile video to Atlanta."
WFXG has run on channel 51 for some time, since the station began DTV broadcasts, said lawyer Anne Crump of Fletcher Heald, representing the station. “I'm hopeful” her client’s request will be approved by the FCC, because “essentially it’s just continuing the status quo,” she told us. The station’s filing made similar comments. Having to build transmission facilities for channel 31 would cost about $2 million, the filing said. “It would be of no avail to build a new and improved facility only to have to take the station dark due to a crushing debt load.” As for CTIA’s opposition, “their members knew what they were getting into” when they bought spectrum at auction, “so I'm not real sympathetic at this point,” Crump said. “It’s kind of like living next to an airport and complaining about the planes.”