FCC Cuts 4 Stations From List Of Ones Said To Go Dark June 12

The FCC late Friday re-issued the list of stations it had identified at a June 3 DTV briefing as "expected to be dark for some period of time after June 12th" [the new DTV hard date deadline],cutting the number of stations from 35 to 31, including dropping three that were mistakenly included.

Eloise Gore, associate bureau chief of the Media Bureau, had talked of the 35 stations going dark, drawing concerned responses at the meeting from acting Chairman Michael Copps and Commissioner Robert McDowell.

The original list also drew a concerned response from the owners of one of the stations identified as "silent," Fox affiliate KXVA Abilene, which had been on the air with a digital signal since Feb. 17, its owner and engineer told B&C.

The FCC Friday, June 5, removed KXVA from the list, as well as three other stations.

"The issue is resolved," said an FCC spokesman in a phone message to B&C.

Also not belonging on the list, said the spokesman without elaboration, was independent WLNY Riverhead, NY.

A third station, KCWK Walla Walla, Wash. was already off analog. The license had been canceled, "so the viewers won't know any difference," said the spokesman.

A fourth station, WMTJ Fajardo, PR, fixed its technical problem and will be on in digital June 12, he said.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.