KRCB, one of two PBS affiliates licensed to the San Francisco market, will take away $72 million from the FCC’s spectrum auction in exchange for agreeing to change its channel.
The move, however, will limit the station’s over-the-air reach to Sonoma County, the area north of San Francisco where KRCB is located, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports.
KRCB, which is owned by the Rural California Broadcasting Corporation, will remain on its current channel 22 but no longer transmit via UHF, the report said. KRCB will instead be delivered over a less powerful VHF signal.
The $72 million, however, could be key to KRCB's long-term future. The money will be used for upgrades and to fund an endowment the affiliate can tap for operations, the Press Democrat says.
(Photo via Pictures of Money's Flickr. Image taken on Sept. 9, 2016 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 3x4 aspect ratio.)
