FCC Grants 1st Analog-TV Shutdown

[Gregg Lengling]

In a move likely to spark interest at Comcast Corp., the Federal Communications Commission has for the first time granted permission to a TV station to cease analog broadcasting prior to the formal conclusion of the transition to digital television.

The station, WWAC-53 in Atlantic City, N.J., is a full-power UHF station in the Philadelphia TV market. The independent station is owned by Lenfest Broadcasting LLC.

Under the FCC's Sept. 24 ruling, WWAC may cease analog transmission at any time and serve the public only with its digital service, which began operation in August.

After surrendering its analog license, WWAC can demand that local cable operators carry its digital signal in analog. Because WWAC's digital-transmission tower is situated 35 miles closer to inner-city Philadelphia than its analog tower, WWAC expects to see its access to Philadelphia cable subscribers to grow to 1.8 million from 575,000.

As the dominant cable operator in the Philadelphia market, Comcast would need to find a valuable analog-channel position for WWAC. The FCC said WWAC needs to supply cable operators with digital-to-analog-converter equipment for use at the headend.

WWAC general manager Bob Lund said he was in no rush to shut down the analog service because the company had to consider the impact of such a move on the 2,677 households in its market that are solely reliant upon off-the-air TV
 


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net