In late May, the Orono, Me., TV station offering PBS programming to the community and its surrounding region has asked the FCC for a swap of its VHF signal for a more powerful UHF facility. This came concurrent to a near-identical request from its Augusta, Me., sibling.
The upgrades for the Maine Public properties are coming soon.
Barbara Kreisman, the head of the FCC Media Bureau’s Video Division, on Monday (8/29) approved a petition for rulemaking filed by Maine Public Broadcasting Corp. that asked to exchange VHF Channel 9 for UHF Channel 22 for its WMEB-TV in Orono and swap VHF Channel 10 for UHF Channel 20 for WCBB-TV in Augusta.
As had been stated in similar petitions involving commercially licensed broadcast TV licensees, Maine Public shared that although the new facilities results in a slight reduction in the predicted population served by WMEB, the proposed channel change would result in first service “to a substantial number of persons.”
And, much of the predicted loss was in areas served by two other Maine Public PBS Member stations.
After reviewing the matter, the Video Division Chief, Barbara Kreisman, believes the proposal warranted consideration. As such, a comment period was opened.
No other comments were received. As such, Kreisman terminated the proceeding
