New VHF Station WACP-TV Secures Pay TV Carriage

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. and PHILADELPHIA -- WACP-TV, the newly minted DTV station in Atlantic City, said it has secured carriage on Comcast, Dish and DirecTV systems. WACP will be added to the Comcast channel lineup Tuesday, Oct. 23. The station is one of two new full-power DTV facilities created in the wake of the 2009 digital transition, which left New Jersey and Delaware without a station transmitting on a VHF assignment, contrary to federal law. The Delaware station was issued the call letters “WMDE” in June.

Greg Kraft, chief engineer for WACP, said the Atlantic City station’s been on the air since early June and is transmitting at 10 kW ERP from a 3.7 kW transmitter. The press release announcing cable and satellite carriage said that the “initial programming lineup will be primarily infomercials and shopping, along with children’s and public affairs.” It also states that “WACP is actively exploring all market programming opportunities.” The station’s Children’s TV Programming file lists several syndicated shows from NASA, “Children’s Talk,” “Mustard Pancakes,” “Gina D’s Kids Club,” “Mouse in the House,” “Dragonfly” and “Think Big.”

WACP said it will be on Ch. 4—it’s over-the-air channel of license—on “most Comcast, Dish and Direct TV systems,” and Ch. 789 on the Comcast HD tier. WACP and WMDE are both owned by Western Pacific Broadcast, LLC, a division of Tampa, Fla.-based Richland Towers. WPB paid $3.8 million for the Ch. 4 license and $210,000 for WMDE’s Seaford, Del. Ch. 5 license.