CINCINNATI—The Atlanta-based Heartland Media will have a number of stations affected by the FCC TV spectrum repack and will rely on GatesAir to provide assistance for the transition. Heartland will bring in GatesAir transmission equipment—using a mix of the Maxiva ULXTE liquid-cooled and UAXTE air-cooled UHF TV transmitters based on each site’s requirements—as well as additional services.

One such example is Heartland Media’s WAAY-TV in Huntsville, Ala., which is assigned to move during phase 2 (12/1/18-4/12/19) from channel 32 to channel 17. It will share a combined broadcast antenna with another Huntsville affiliate, though they are not scheduled to move until phase 8 (1/18/20-3/13/20). To solve this, Heartland is working with GatesAir and ERI on the possibility of an interim antenna that will later switch to the combined antenna in phase 8.

GatesAir is also providing help with the ATSC 3.0 transition by offering its UHF DTV transmitters that are ATSC 3.0 ready.

Heartland Media also took advantage of a GatesAir sponsored workshop that educated customers what to expect during the repack process, as well as another on ATSC 3.0’s IP-based technology, transmission requirements and operational benefits.

Heartland Media has stations in 11 markets across the U.S.

To follow our online coverage, visit our repack silo,www.tvtechnology.com/repack.