The television market of WSBS-22 in Key West, Fla., the station used by Spanish Broadcasting System as the flagship for its Mega TV mini-network, will now include 41 cable communities in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale DMA, thanks to an FCC Media Bureau Order released today (5/26).
SBS asserted that a series of market modification decisions between 1996 and 1999 deleted the 41 communities from the station’s market.
Since that time, SBS acquired WSBS and changed its programming to provide “specialized Spanish-language local service to the Hispanic population in the communities.”
WSBS has been voluntarily carried in all of the communities since SBS acquired WSBS in 2006, and no oppositions were filed to the company’s petition.
As a result, the Media Bureau granted the petition.
In granting the petition, the Media Bureau noted, “The nexus between the station and the communities is significant, including in particular its status as the sole station in the market providing locally-produced programming aimed at the local Cuban and Latin American populations.”
The communities listed include such major population centers as Coral Gables, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach, Miami Springs, Homestead, Key Biscayne, Miami Beach, Sweetwater, West Miami and Medley—representing a vast majority of Mega TV’s audience.
