The FCC on Thursday closed the book on Comcast‘s attempt to become exempt from a pending market modification of a rural Upstate New York UHF station to the Burlington, Vt.-Plattsburgh, N.Y. DMA.
Comcast on Nov. 28 filed a Motion to Withdraw its Petition for Special Relief in a proceeding that began in the summer months.
The battle deals with Cross Hill Communications’ WYCI-Channel 40, licensed to the Adirondack Mountains resort community of Saranac Lake, N.Y.
WYCI is the Retro TV (RTV) affiliate for the region, and uses studios in Shelburne, Vt. — a suburb of Burlington. It signed on in 2007, from a tower that also houses WNBZ-FM 106.3 in Saranac Lake, N.Y.
As WYCI modified its market to reflect where its studios were located, it would also gain “must-carry” status, given its local broadcast status. Comcast argued that it should be exempt from the “must carry” classification for WYCI, and in late October was given a rare third extension by the FCC to gather the information necessary for “a full and accurate reply” to Cross Hill.
That gave Comcast until Nov. 9.
Now, it seems the two parties came to a truce.
