Tuesday, September 23, 2014

600MHz Auction - Channel Sharing Agreement

Here is the first channel sharing agreement where spectrum will be sold back to the FCC as part of the 600MHz Broadcast Incentive Auction.

Los Angeles KCET/KLCS

It is interesting to note that neither of the stations involved is operating a for profit business.  KCET indicates that 2 million Southern Californians watch weekly.  Their broadcast footprint covers over 17 million people in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Kern, and San Diego counties.  KLCS is a non-commercial educational channel directly supporting the 700,000 students within the Los Angeles Unified School District.  Both broadcasters are on the major cable, Dish, and DirecTV line ups.

For over the air broadcasts, one of these broadcasters will need to become the secondary video channel.  Since KLCS has a closed subscriber base, LA Schools, I think they are the ideal candidate for the secondary video channel.

With the transition to Digital TV in 2009, broadcasters utilized the new digital technology to place multiple video streams within the reallocated 6MHz channel.  With an aerial antenna, your TV would see the primary video broadcast as 5.001 with the secondary broadcast as 5.002. Few secondary broadcast channels make it onto the cable TV, Dish, or DirecTV line ups.

Link to Filing