There may be other factors at work here. I have been doing some research on digital subchannels around the country, and simultaneously ran across a note that the FCC is demanding that Equity get their digital transmitters on the air by February 17th. All analog transmitters must be turned off by February 17, and a bankruptcy filing is no excuse....if the digital is not on, nothing will be on come February 18th. The following stations have been noted in a database that they will be going silent on February 17:
TeleFutura KUTF-Salt Lake City
Univision WNYI-Ithaca and KUOK-Oklahoma City
My Network TV KWBM-Springfield, KPBI-Fort Smith
RTN WNGS-Buffalo KKYK-Little Rock KQUP-Spokane KWWF-Waterloo
WBIF-Panama City
FOX WMQF-Marquette KBTZ-Butte KLMN-Great Falls KMMF-Missoula
If all of this pans out, there will be a point where they may not have any TV stations to sell or use as collateral to do any financing. Take them off the air, and a clock starts ticking against the license. Keep it off the air, and the license is revoked. So somebody needs to install digital transmitters at these stations or they will be toast.
These are all Equity properties. Non-Equity affiliates are not affected, as long as RTN has something to deliver. But there is a clear line of demarcation between Equity and RTN, and this makes it very clear.
More bad news is coming from Little Rock. The reason that you see KATV-ABC on satellite is for use as a link to make up for the loss of their huge transmission tower nearly a year ago. Another daisy chain of events caused by the FCC digital transitioni will happen in 2 or 3 weeks. KATV used to be on channel 7 VHF.
They have a digital license for UHF 22 and it will be fired up in late January, which will then free up VHF channel 7 for its new occupant, the Little Rock PBS affiliate, which is moving from channel 2 analog to channel 7 digital. If digital 22 covers enough territory, there will be little reason to keep it on satellite for very long.
