Non-commercial KLCS-TV and commercial KJLA-TV have asked the FCC for permission to take part in an experiment to determine if the two stations can share the same airwaves without reducing the quality of their signals for viewers, reports The LA Times.
KLCS, virtual channel 58 (UHF digital channel 41), is the secondary PBS station in LA and owned by the Los Angeles Unified School District. KJLA, virtual channel 57 (UHF digital channel 49), is licensed to Ventura, CA and airs Spanish network LaTV. The station is owned by LATV Holdings, LLC (under the control of Entravision CEO Walter Ulloa.
The channel-sharing test, if successful, could encourage other broadcasters to do the same. The FCC wants broadcasters to consider sharing channels as part of the agency’s plan to reclaim spectrum from local TV stations and then auction it off to wireless companies. Broadcasters would also get a cut of the proceeds.
“Since spectrum is a finite and valuable resource, channel-sharing is truly a win-win-win for consumers, broadcasters and wireless providers,” Steve Largent, president and chief executive of CTIA, which announced the sharing agreement and worked with both stations behind the scenes, told The LA Times.
Francis Wilkinson, vice president of KJLA, said the test will “enable us to evaluate the practical impact of channel-sharing.”
The FCC also greeted the proposed test with enthusiasm.
“Channel-sharing represents a unique option for broadcasters that wish to continue to broadcast over-the-air programming, while also taking advantage of the incentive auction’s once-in-a-lifetime financial opportunity,” an FCC spokesman told the paper. “We welcome this pilot project proposal, and look forward to reviewing it closely.”
The FCC is looking to auction spectrum worth $25 billion and use the proceeds to build a new national network for law enforcement and public safety workers. The potential cut for broadcasters from the sale is estimated to be $1.75 billion.
Many broadcasters have shown little enthusiasm for parting with their spectrum and fear that the FCC’s voluntary auction could become mandatory.
“On a technical level, one of the main challenges to channel-sharing concerns the ability of the sharers to offer new and innovative services as they are limiting their available spectrum. On the business side, there are difficult contractual provisions that would need to be addressed,” said NAB EVP Dennis Wharton.
RBR-TVBR observation: Wharton is right. Multicast channels will be limited with such a move for both channels. However, this is yet one more way technology can solve spectrum crunch issues. These stations’ actual UHF channels (not virtual) are far away from each other on the dial (Ch. 41 and 49), so they are not “sharing” adjacent spectrum. This opens up a lot of possibilities for broadcasters—including extending OTA coverage. Francis Wilkinson, VP/GM KJLA, tells RBR-TVBR that both KLCS and KJLA broadcast from Mt Wilson, the main antenna farm for Los Angeles. The towers are only about 1/4 mile apart. “However that’s irrelevant because the test is being conducted by using KLCS’s transmitter and dividing their spectrum in various ways showing that 2 separate channels can broadcast over 1 station’s airwaves with a combination of HD and SD streams. PSIP generation continues to show KJLA’s streams as being on KJLA’s virtual channel 57 so this is seamless to viewers.”
