In May 2021, the ABC affiliate serving Southern Nevada petitioned the FCC to shift its digital broadcast channel from VHF Channel 13 to UHF Channel 26. A low-power television station using Channel 26 opposed the plan.
Now, the Media Bureau’s Video Division Chief has decided on the matter, and The E.W. Scripps Co. is the winner.
As such, KTNV can shift its digital channel to 26 while retaining its PSIP as Channel 13.
King Kong Broadcasting didn’t want this to happen. As the licensee of KGNG-LD, which uses Channel 26, it opposed the channel substitution. This sparked a back-and-forth filing spree between Scripps and King Kong.
What doomed King Kong in its fight is perhaps the argument it presented to the Commission. While King Kong acknowledged that “generally, full-power stations have priority over LPTV stations in terms of channel allotments,” it goes on to assert that
“because Scripps’ proposal would not serve the public interest, convenience and necessity, the Commission cannot grant such proposal.”
How would this not be in the public interest? King Kong sought to make the argument that its principal, Laurence Hunt, resides in Las Vegas. As such, King Kong has “ascertained the needs of the community” and “curated programming options designed to serve the entire community,” it argued.
King Kong also pointed to its programming, which it believes takes precedence as it is geared toward historically disenfranchised audiences in Southern Nevada.
Creatively, King Kong suggested that UHF Digital Channel 26 be added to the Table Of Allotments the FCC maintains, thus opening the frequency up for applicants and bids and making a construction permit for Channel 26 happen. While this counter-proposal was offered by King Kong, it also argued that KTNV simply select a different digital channel and keep KGNG-LD on Channel 26.
Lastly, King Kong suggests Scripps’ selection of Channel 26 is part of a long-standing vendetta between KTNV and Mr. Hunt and his assets. Scripps responded that these claims are “vague, unsupported, and irrelevant.” Furthermore, Scripps suggested the issue stands with KTNV’s previous owner, Journal Communications; that company is now defunct.
For its part, Scripps told the Commission that KGNG-LD has secondary status and is therefore subject to interference from and displacement by full power stations.
At the same time, Scripps disclosed that it sought to work with King Kong given the displacement and offered to donate Scripps’ channel 13 equipment to King Kong upon moving KTNV-TV to channel 26 and maintain, at Scripps’ expense, a temporary channel 13 facility for King Kong’s use at KTNV-TV’s downtown Las Vegas studio and tower facility.
In her decision, Barbara Kriesman ruled, “King Kong asks us to disregard the station’s secondary status and protect it from being displaced based on its specific programming. No basis exists under the Communications Act or the Commission’s rules for granting a station greater protection than it is permitted under its license based on the content of its programming, and we refuse to do so here.”
She added that King Kong will be eligible to file a displacement application for channel 13, or any other available channel.
