WCGV/WVTV on air in December?

[kjnorman]

I have been following and participating in a thread on avsforum.  In the thread I took to task Sinclair Broadcast Group, about their failure to switch WCGV and WVTV on air by November 1, after Mark A. Aitken, Director, Advanced Technology of Sinclair Broadcast Group committed to such in a message to boughe in this thread.

Mark Aitken, responded to my post which I quote below:
 

Sorry if you have taken things personally. There was nothing directed at you. As to a promise...well, at the time that was the intent. Many things DID NOT happen. From a recent status report on stations:

WCGV/WVTV Xmtr installation in progress – needs ice bridges completed – needs antennas installed – needs main power service installed.

It turns out that we were granted an extension (that would be from the FCC) till December, and are now working toward that date.

Hey, what can I say other than S _ _ T happens?

Well what can I say?  Perhaps in December we may see WB18 and UPN24 on digital???



[This message has been edited by kjnorman (edited 11-14-2002).]

[kjnorman]

What could I say?  Well this was my response to Mr Aitken (aka MisterDTV).

 

Sinclair Milwaukee Stations on air in December?

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by MisterDTV
Sorry if you have taken things personally. There was nothing directed at you. As to a promise...well, at the time that was the intent. Many things DID NOT happen. From a recent status report on stations:

WCGV/WVTV Xmtr installation in progress – needs ice bridges completed – needs antennas installed – needs main power service installed.

It turns out that we were granted an extension (that would be from the FCC) till December, and are now working toward that date.

Hey, what can I say other than S _ _ T happens?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


MisterDTV, thank you for your response. This is news to me and will be news to our membership at MilwaukeeHDTV.org which we would be pleased if you could join us and comment on the current status of the Sinclair stations here, for which I know you are getting a lot of negative PR on the Forum. Your contribution would help present your view on the digital transition and explain why Milwaukee's WCGV and WVTV are the last affiliated stations to go on air. Would it surprise you to know that our local station WVCY-DT a religious viewer funded station managed to launch and go digital just last week with a strong signal. If a station like this can plan accordingly and launch then why can't the large corporately funded Sinclair owned stations?

I would like like to say that I was not taking thing personally; the original message was written by someone else, however I was taking you to task for the delay in launching WCGV and WVTV.

I know that delays can happen in business; I've seen my fair share of multi-million dollar projects and system re-engineering activities and it is rarely plain sailing. However, delays like this give me the impression of poor project management skills.

Your stations should have been on the air in May. They were granted extensions to November. This should have given you lots of nice sunny months to install the tower equipment. Now it is mid November and you have still to install ice bridges and the transmitters. I only hope that this is done before we get out first heavy snows for the winter. If this doesn't happen than I fear that your tower work will not be completed until the Spring. Trying to complete this so late in the year sounds like bad planning.

I know it is futile to dwell on events in the past, so I would like to know that if your tower work is completed, will you actually be switching on WCGV and WVTV in December. If so, on what date? December 1?

Given that you still have work to complete on your towers, and you are concerned about tuner performance, may I ask if you are in discussions with our local Time Warner provider in Milwaukee? If you are only waiting on the tower work to be completed, then I must presume that the studio work is done and that you are already capable of passing though HDTV feeds from WB. So why not push it out to TW? Can you comment on this please?

Finally, while I have your ear, if you yourself can not post on our forum, can you please ask representatives from WCGV and WVTV to comment on MilwaukeeHDTV.org. If they can at least keep us up to date on the engineering work, that may quell the bad PR you are currently getting.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your response.

Kerry Norman.

[Tom Snyder]

I have been following that thread as well, and I gave Mr. Aitken a registered account here with an invitation to come here and participate.

All he needs to do is come here, log in with the handle/password I sent him the night befrore last and post away!

[ReesR]

I note from this discussion nothing about the status of the studio equipment.  Any info on that?

Rees

[kjnorman]

Alas, no response from Mr Aitken.

Kerry

[kjnorman]

Okay, it looks like both UPN24 and WB18 should be on the air by December 1.

Mark Aitken, just posted this on avsforum.

I get asked the question ALL THE TIME. I thought that it would be best to let the company speak for itself on the matter of Digital Television. From the latest SEC 10-Q filing SEC 10-Q Filing : (this is at the very end)

Digital Television

Our expectation is that we will have all but six of our television stations broadcasting a digital signal by December 1, 2002. The six television stations that will not be broadcasting a digital signal by December 1, 2002 have digital construction permit applications pending with the FCC. DTV channels are generally located in the range of channels from channel 2 through channel 51. The FCC required that affiliates of ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC in the top 10 television markets begin digital broadcasting by May 1, 1999 and that affiliates of these networks in markets 11 through 30 begin digital broadcasting by November 1999. All other commercial stations are required to begin digital broadcasting by May 1, 2002. We filed applications for extensions for 33 of our presently owned stations. For 19 of those stations, an extension was granted until November 1, 2002 and for two of those stations an extension was granted until December 17, 2002. With respect to the remaining 12 stations, the FCC denied the extension request and issued letters admonishing the licensees and requiring the filing of progress reports, but afforded each station until December 1, 2002 to construct its facility. We have filed the required progress reports and appealed the denial of the extension applications. As of October 25, 2002, of the stations we own, two stations have license applications pending, seven stations have digital construction permit applications pending, two will be filing license applications by mid-December, 11 stations are operating pursuant to special temporary authority to operate at low power, fourteen stations have filed requests for special temporary authority to operate at low power, and 12 stations will be filing requests to operate pursuant to special temporary authority to operate at low power prior to December 1, 2002. With respect to the LMA stations, of the six Cunningham stations we have entered into LMA agreements with, four have outstanding digital construction permits and two have digital applications pending. Three of the stations with digital construction permits were granted extensions until November 1, 2002, November 14, 2002, November 15, 2002, respectively and the fourth had its extension request denied, but the FCC gave the station until December 1, 2002 to construct its facility. Of the other LMA stations, WTTA has filed a request for special temporary authority to operate at low power, WDKA has been granted special temporary authority to operate at low power, and WFGX has received an extension of time to construct its digital facility pending FCC action on a petition for rulemaking it has filed requesting a substitute DTV channel. WNYS and WDBB have digital construction permit applications pending. On May 24, 2002, the FCC issued an Order and Notice of Proposed Rule Making which proposes a series of graduated sanctions to be imposed upon licensees who do not meet the FCC's DTV build-out schedule. If the rules are adopted, the stations could face monetary fines and possible loss of any digital construction permits that are not in compliance with the schedule announced in the rules. After completion of the transition period, the FCC will reclaim the non-digital channels. The FCC's plan calls for the DTV transition period to end in the year 2006, at which time the FCC expects that television broadcasters will cease non-digital broadcasting and return one of their two channels to the government, allowing that spectrum to be recovered for other uses. During the transition period, each existing analog television station will be permitted to operate a second station that will broadcast using the digital standard. The FCC has been authorized by Congress to extend the December 31, 2006 deadline for reclamation of a television station's non-digital channel if, in any given case:

• one or more television stations affiliated with ABC, CBS, NBC or FOX in a market is not broadcasting digitally, and the FCC determines that such stations have "exercised due diligence" in attempting to convert to digital broadcasting, or

• less than 85% of the television households in the station's market subscribe to a multichannel video service (cable, wireless cable or direct-to-home broadcast satellite television ("DBS") that carries at least one digital
channel from each of the local stations in that market, or less than 85% of the television households in the market can receive digital signals off the air using either a set-top converter box for an analog television set or a new DTV television set.


__________________
Regards,

Mark Aitken
Evangelical DTV Technologist

[MisterDTV]

I did. Thanks. It is a new thread.

 

Originally posted by Tom Snyder:
I have been following that thread as well, and I gave Mr. Aitken a registered account here with an invitation to come here and participate.

All he needs to do is come here, log in with the handle/password I sent him the night befrore last and post away!

[MisterDTV]

 

Originally posted by MisterDTV:
I did. Thanks. It is a new thread.

 

http://www.milwaukeehdtv.org/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000199.html

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"Mr. DTV" aka "Mister DTV"