Ohio delegation calls for protection for broadcast TV

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Some of the best promotional copy ever written on behalf of broadcasters comes from Congress – and the latest to hail broadcast service are members of the Ohio delegation to the US Congress, who ask that Ohio broadcasters emerge whole from the incentive broadcast due to their importance to residents of the state.


The acknowledge the need for spectrum for broadband, but stress that it should not be supplied at the expense of the loss of broadcast service.

They wrote, “In Ohio, our diverse population has a strong reliance on over-the-air television, including over one million Ohioans who rely exclusively on free local television to get their news, information and weather, many of who rely on in-language and in-culture broadcast programming. As witnessed four short years ago during our Nation’s transition to digital television, moving television stations has the ability to cause consumer disruptions. Therefore, during the repacking of broadcasters, it will be important to minimize coverage area disruption.”

They urged the FCC to make sure the $1.75B fund to move stations when necessary is meted out appropriately, and that no consumer be subjected to harmful interference, whether they are tuning into a broadcast station or using a mobile device.

They concluded by asking the FCC to make sure the process is completely open and transparent.

Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) were joined by 15 members of the Ohio congressional delegation in signing the letter.

2 COMMENTS

  1. The repacking plan will result in a loss of OTA choices. If any station goes dark as a result there will be a loss. The removal of channels 52-69 has already caused interference and there are times when we lose a couple of nearby stations as a result. The OTA signal has never been better and it will be shame if that service is downgraded as a result of this proposal.

  2. I’m seen to know how to understand the entire spectrum situation. I would take a bet that Daystar, Trinity, Ion and all the other religious and minor broadcast network plus all the diginets multicast networks would round up being regulated to cable only network that would be made available to customers with FTA systems and be made available on all cable systems as well as on both Directv and Dish Network and also be allowed to stream their programming online for internet users at no cost. I like the idea in which NBC stations on 1080 share their channel with Telemundo on 480 in widescreen, CBS stations on 1080 sharing with CW on 1080 in widescreen, FOX stations on 720 sharing with MyNET on 720 in widescreen, Univision and Telefutura share a channel together on either 480, 720, or 1080 in widescreen, and ABC would continue to not have to worry about sharing their stations with another network or another station and still on 720 in widescreen, but could likely share it with other network affiliated channels on either 480, 720, or 1080 in widescreen. PBS stations would likely be forced to merged and share it’s stations on the same channel frequency and still be able to transmit in 1080 widescreen. The stronger PBS stations would end up sharing the channel space with the weaker PBS stations in markets where there are multiple PBS affiliates in the same market. The mid-sized and smaller TV markets could end up carrying 2 to 3 subchannel feeds in widescreen SDTV or HDTV on the same channel frequency. I would recommend that all the TV stations that are now on the UHF 14-51 band in digital that were on 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 in analog be forced to move on 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 in digital and all the TV stations that are now on the UHF 14-51 band in digital that were on 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30 in analog be forced to move back to those channels in digital plus all the TV stations that are now on the VHF 7-13 high band with different RF physical channel numbers on the VHF high band in digital that were on 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 in analog to be forced to move back to those channels in digital as the best way to not mess up on frequency assignments in the future maybe by around 2020. I like the idea of all the TV stations be allowed to transmit all HDTV and SDTV as well as mobile programming in the MPEG 4 format in the future maybe by around 2020. I like the idea of both IVI TV and FilmOn HDi be allowed to go in business again and be able to transmit all the local stations to the viewers on the net for free without any interference from the government for violating any copyright laws with benefits for online viewers that want to watch their favorite stations programming such as local news and shows even after the spectrum auction and plan becomes very mandated and very hard for TV stations to be able to stay on the air without being able to stream all their programming online to the viewers online. Me wanting IVI TV and FilmOn HDi transmitting the locals online for free to the viewers on the internet would be very beneficial when it comes to very severe weather outbreaks and breaking news that the viewers would want to be very informed the sooner and the better as a public service to all online users and all television stations in the future. I’m afraid that my take of what channels the TV stations ought to be on with the planning of an spectrum auction. Thank you for my understanding to this crisis in the TV business lately as it relates to the spectrum crunch going on right now. My comment to this matter is not a negative attack but a opinion and theory on my own terns to the spectrum auction in the future.

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