Media Bureau Denies Gray Reassignment Request
Parker Broadcasting of Dakota License gets to keep its KRDK-TV Valley City, North Dakota, station on Cable One's virtual channel 4, the FCC Media Bureau said Tuesday in a letter to Parker and Gray Television denying Gray's request for reassignment…
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of program and system information protocol (PSIP) channels. Gray wanted channel 4 reassigned from KRDK to its KVLY-TV Fargo, in response to a Parker must-carry complaint against Cable One (see 1603040033). While Gray is trying to preserve its CBS affiliation on channel 4, it needs a mutual agreement from KRDK for that waiver request to be considered, the bureau said. The bureau said Gray is seeking the reassignment to avoid viewer confusion and allow maintenance of local brand identification that comes with channel 4, but brand identification priority is in the context of over-the-air TV, not pay-TV carriage. Gray's attempt for virtual channel 4 to make sure its CBS programming is carried on Channel 4 by pay-TV systems "is not relevant to the intent of the PSIP standard," the bureau said. Gray didn't comment Thursday.