Info for 123W DTV bad news??

[kingjeste]

Found this on another website. If its old news here.. sorry. thought it be interesting info. Atleast it was to me...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Digital transition issues

In mid-December 2008, Equity filed notice with the Federal Communications Commission that more than a dozen of its individual analogue-only full service stations would not be able to acquire equipment for digital TV transition without court approval, and these recently-constructed full-power stations would therefore go dark at the end of digital transition (February 17, 2009). Stations with existing digital broadcasts or low-power broadcasting stations on channels 2 - 51 would not be affected.

Equity has requested that the FCC extend the expiry dates of digital construction permits for these stations, a possible means of retaining the affected licenses until a buyer can be found.

Full-service stations scheduled to go dark at the end of digital transition include:

* KBTZ (Fox, Butte, Montana)[12]
* KEGS (Goldfield, Nevada)[13]
* KLMN (Fox, Great Falls, Montana)[14]
* KMMF (Fox, Missoula, Montana)[15]
* KPBI (MyTV, Eureka Springs, Arkansas)[16]
* KQUP (RTN, Pullman, Washington)[17]
* KUOK (Univisión, Woodward, Oklahoma)[18]
* KUTF (Logan, Utah)[19]
* KWBM (RTN, Harrison, Arkansas)[20]
* KWWF (RTN, Waterloo, Iowa)[21]
* WBIF (RTN, Marianna, Florida)[22]
* WMQF (Fox, Marquette, Michigan)[23]
* WNGS (RTN, Springville, New York)[24]
* WNYI (Univisión, Ithaca, New York)[25]

Equity's situation is unique due to its rapid and recent expansion. Many of its full-service stations were built during the last few years of digital transition and are in the position of needing to flash-cut to digital in 2009 or cease operation. Established full-service broadcasters (who signed on before the start of transition) had (with rare exception) been required to operate existing digital simulcasts on another channel for several years and digital equipment is therefore already in place.

 

[guapoharry]

Yah, This was covered previously. However, from the looks of things, the deadline might be pushed back.

Chairman: FCC has no coherent plan for digital DTV

The feds are talking about passing legislation to fund more converter box coupons, too.

 

[Mr Tony]

Mike Kohl had a good read about it. But note the bolded part

RTN vs. Equity Broadcasting. A really complicated legal and financial situation has erupted in Little Rock. Equity has declared bankruptcy, and is awaiting their day in court to reorganize operations. A former director, Henry Luken, bought the Retro TV Network from Equity last summer, with an option for Equity to buy it back within 6 months. In the interim, he acted to guarantee any shortfalls in operating budget for RTN. After less than three months, Mr. Luken realized that a few bills were not being paid by Equity, and he quit making payments on behalf of their joint operation. Bankruptcy proceedings from Equity were jump started by the calling in of a loan from a financial institution in Connecticut, claiming that over $40 million was owed. Millions are outstanding to some programming suppliers such as Univision, one of the networks that Equity uses to serve its affiliates in Spanish speaking markets around the country. All of this got ugly between Christmas and New Year's Day, and the end result was that RTN's signal was pulled from all Equity stations previously set up as RTN affiliates. Mr Luken set up a temporary Ku-band uplink in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and spent over a week making things right with over 50 affiliates around the country. Equity has been making deals of its own since losing RTN network programming, including one with THIS TV, from Weigel Broadcasting in Chicago. RTN affiliates in Buffalo, New York, and Fort Smith, Arkansas, are now carrying that ad-supported classic movie channel. Any change in the previous February 17th date to turn off analog signals could prove to be a blessing for Equity Broadcasting, which had over 15 of its stations in a situation where digital facilities had not yet been built, and their analog signals would have been turned off on February 17th. If they can remain on the air after that date, it could buy valuable time to reorganize finances after their bankruptcy proceedings. Local cable TV coverage in those markets probably will still need the satellite feeds, so it is doubtful that everything will leave the Galaxy 18 Ku-band satellite. It all depends upon legal and financial issues. Nobody wants to completely lose an investment in a TV operation if there is some hope that money can be extracted later, and those FCC licenses are valuable on their own if they can be retained to sell a station to raise money. The whole situation is a soap opera right now, and nobody's talking. We'll see what is on the air at this time next month!

http://www.global-cm.net/news&views20090130.html

most of the cable companies in the specific markets are probably picking them up via satellite versus OTA because a lot of the stations are low powered.