Many Broadcasters Using Temporary Antennas to Meet Repack Deadlines, Industry Execs Say
The FCC’s repacking plan is successfully relocating broadcasters to their new frequencies, but to meet deadlines many are relying on interim antennas that don’t necessarily reach all their viewers, said broadcasters and tower officials in interviews. “430 TV stations have moved off their pre-repack channels; 557 to go,” tweeted FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry Wednesday. “The process is going well, but a lot of work remains.” Success “is measured differently by the FCC,” said Ron Scalfani, logistics coordinator for tower company Precision Communications: “The FCC is reporting victory; we’re seeing a backup.” The transition's phase 4 ended last week; phase 5 has just begun and lasts until September.
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Broadcast industry executives and FCC officials called the FCC’s flexibility in allowing broadcasters to transition by shifting to a temporary antenna a positive strategy for meeting the repacking's tight time demands (see 1905240041). “The FCC is committed to working with broadcasters who need extensions or can't meet deadlines," said Incentive Auction Task Force Chair Jean Kiddoo. “We realize time is tight," she said. But Scalfani believes this masks the effort's true progress. Though the FCC describes Scalfani’s clients that have moved to interim antennas in phase 4 as having been successfully repacked, his tower crews are still working to get them onto main antennas.
WMHT Schenectady, New York, President Robert Altman said he’s pleased to have made the phase 4 deadline even using an interim antenna. “It’s better than the alternative,” he said. But the antenna doesn’t have as much power and is mounted lower on the tower than WMHT’s main antenna, meaning some viewers “on the fringes” of WMHT’s service area may not be able to receive the station, he said. Altman doesn’t know exactly when the station will be on a main antenna, though he suspects it will be more than a few weeks, he said. In the meantime, the use of the auxiliary antenna also means WMHT won’t have a backup available in case of something unforeseen, he said.
The NAB wouldn’t comment on broadcasters using temporary antennas in the repacking, saying it isn’t tracking how often it’s happening. The FCC also didn’t comment on whether it's aware of how many temporary antennas are being used. Since broadcasters must file for special temporary authority to operate at a variance, the agency likely has that data, a broadcast attorney said, though he noted it may not be organized around tracking repack-related interim antenna use.
Scalfani said the backup could get worse as the transition progresses, a concern that has been repeatedly voiced by broadcast industry officials. Phases 5 and 6 have the shortest testing periods -- broadcasters have about a month until the Sept. 6 deadline to be off their current frequency for phase 5. Phase 6 ends Oct. 16, a little more than a month after phase 5 ends. Broadcasters in phase 4 had until Aug. 2 from phase 3’s June 21 end. Kiddoo said it’s misleading to describe the phases as short because all broadcasters have had to begin working on their repack needs since the release of the transition schedule, and broadcasters in each phase have had more time to prepare than those in preceding phases. “Each phase is the longest to date,” Kiddoo said. Scalfani doesn’t disagree but said many broadcasters delayed starting repack preparations until the FCC’s reimbursement process was finalized. There are also last-minute issues that can present themselves only when the tower work is underway, he said.
Despite phase 5’s short testing period, WHKY-TV Hickory, North Carolina, General Manager Jeff Long said he doesn’t expect too much difficulty making the shift. “We’ll make our channel change,” he said, though he conceded he’s waiting for his tower crew to arrive. "You can’t rush them,” he said. Scalfani said to speed the process some broadcasters and tower crews have been using helicopters to lift antennas. This method is faster and can be utilized by less qualified tower crews but is extremely expensive, he said.
Several broadcasters cited concern about delays caused by weather or backed-up tower crews. “There are always challenges,” said WETA Washington Vice President-Engineering and Operations Christopher Lane. WETA recently completed it’s phase 4 shift. Afternoon thunderstorms and sharing space with other broadcasters on the tower complicated the work, Lane said. It was “nip and tuck” at some points for WPCB-TV Greensburg, Pennsylvania, said Steve Johnson, CEO of licensee Cornerstone Television. "The industry is struggling to keep up with the pace set by the FCC,” Johnson said, though he did manage to get WPCB repacked onto its full-power antenna by the phase 4 deadline.
Cornerstone owns another station set to transition in a later phase as well as several low powers, and Johnson said he’s concerned about how the reimbursement process for low-power TV will shake out. Though the FCC hasn’t released the full procedures for reimbursing LPTV, translator and FM stations, public notices on those topics are expected “relatively soon,” Kiddoo told us. The FCC is waiting for the Office of Management and the Budget to complete Paperwork Reduction Act review of some of the rules, she said.