» Stations’ windfall:
FCC sought to free up bandwidth for wireless service
Four Milwaukee television stations are in line to collect more than $315 million among them thanks to a “spectrum incentive auction” by the Federal Communications Commission.
Four Milwaukee television stations are in line to collect more than $315 million among them thanks to a “spectrum incentive auction” held by the Federal Communications Commission.
The FCC announced the results of the auction Thursday afternoon. The auction’s objective was to free up bandwidth to meet America’s insatiable hunger for wireless communication.
Milwaukee Area Technical College, as the license holder for WMVT-TV (Channel 36), collected the biggest chunk of compensation in the auction among Milwaukee stations: $84.9 million. In a statement Thursday afternoon, MATC said it planned to “vacate the spectrum on which Channel 36 resided and instead combine the transmission of both Milwaukee PBS stations, Channels 10 and 36, on its remaining … VHF channel spectrum.”
MATC said the auction would “have no impact on the viewing experience of Channels 10 and 36.” As for the one-time windfall, Vicki J. Martin, president of MATC, said in the statement that “we are carefully considering the best investment strategy and process to leverage this onetime infusion of funds to benefit generations to come.”
The other Milwaukee TV stations cashing in on the FCC spectrum auction were WCGV-TV (Channel 24), getting compensation of $84.3 million; WVCY-TV (Channel 30), $79.3 million; and WMLW-TV (Channel 41), $69.7 million.
Nationwide, according to the FCC, 175 stations will collect $10.05 billion from the auction — with 36 stations taking in more than $100 million. Of those stations, 30 will move to a lower channel on the VHF dial (Channels 1 through 12). According to Variety, about a dozen channels will go off the air altogether, with the rest making channel-sharing agreements with other stations.
Channel-sharing deals are where all four Milwaukee TV stations in the spectrum auction are headed. Three of the four Milwaukee stations signaled their intention to enter into a channel-sharing agreement, according to FCC documents posted Thursday; the fourth, WMVT, did not mention a channel-sharing plan in its proposal, but because MATC has two channels in 10 and 36, it effectively would be sharing with itself.
The deadline for the changes to be completed is late 2018.
Jim Schneider, executive director of VCY America Inc., which owns WVCY, said the Christian TV station has a channel-sharing deal in the works, but the change should be transparent to viewers, he said.
Schneider said VCY, which also owns 23 full-power radio stations and 15 translator stations, plans to use its auction proceeds to “enhance programming and reach in areas where we’re not presently broadcasting.”
David Amy, vice chairman of WCGV owner Sinclair Broadcast Group, said Friday that the only impact the auction should have on WCGV viewers is that overthe-air viewers will need to rescan to lock in the revised signal once the process is complete.
A spokeswoman for Weigel Broadcasting, which operates WMLW, declined to comment on the FCC announcement.