MIRAMAR, Fla.—NBCUniversal Local’s Telemundo Station Group has announced that its Telemundo Puerto Rico is now available in the U.S. on The Roku Channel, with distribution on additional streaming services and connected TV platforms expected to be announced soon.

The free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel features Telemundo Puerto Rico / WKAQ’s original entertainment and news programming.

“WKAQ has a tremendous legacy serving the residents of Puerto Rico with content that celebrates and connects their communities, so we are very pleased to extend their reach to those with Puerto Rican heritage and other Spanish-speaking audiences in the U.S.,” said Valari Staab, chairman, NBCU Local. “This channel showcases the great work of our talented local production teams and dedicated journalists in San Juan.”

The new 24/7 Spanish-language streaming channel features the entire lineup of original entertainment and news content produced by WKAQ, the Telemundo-owned station based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The streaming channel provides simulcast and encore presentations of WKAQ’s 80-plus hours of weekly variety, talk, comedy, lifestyle and family shows, as well as award-winning investigative series and news programs.

“WKAQ’s iconic content has connected, informed and entertained the Puerto Rican community for generations, making it an indelible part of the island’s culture and history,” said José Cancela, president, Telemundo Station Group. “The launch of this free streaming channel now allows Telemundo Puerto Rico’s robust, entertainment-centric lineup and storied journalism to engage audiences in new ways and in new places across the U.S.”

WKAQ, part of Telemundo Station Group, has delivered local news and entertainment programming throughout Puerto Rico since 1954, when it became the first local TV station to launch on the island.

“We are incredibly proud to bring WKAQ’s beloved programming to audiences across the mainland U.S., creating a powerful bridge between the island and viewers on the mainland,” said Migdalia Figueroa, president and GM of WKAQ / Telemundo Puerto Rico. “This free streaming channel serves old and new audiences with the experiences, stories and voices that define Puerto Rico and matter to Puerto Ricans.”

Telemundo Station Group also operates four 24/7 free regional news streaming channels, which feature programming produced by Telemundo-owned stations. Noticias Telemundo California, Noticias Telemundo Florida, Noticias Telemundo Noreste and Noticias Telemundo Texas are available nationwide on leading streaming and connected TV platforms, and via Telemundo-owned stations’ sites and apps.

NBCU Local’s streaming portfolio, which first launched in January 2022, now includes 17 channels. The 11 NBC-owned stations’ streaming channels provide 24/7 access to locally produced news, lifestyle and original content across the stations’ digital platforms and top streaming and connected TV platforms. In addition, NBC LX Home streams LXTV Productions’ award-winning lifestyle entertainment titles and other programs.

MIAMI & ORLANDO—Hemisphere Media Group and Entravision have announced a partnership to launch WAPA Orlando, a new full power broadcast television station with programming to serve the Orlando–Daytona Beach–Melbourne DMA.

WAPA Orlando started broadcasting on Feb. 4 on Entravision’s WOTF (Channel 26).

WAPA Orlando will be carried by multichannel video programming distributors throughout the Orlando–Daytona Beach–Melbourne region.

Broadcasting programming from WAPA-TV, Puerto Rico’s #1 TV network for 16 consecutive years, the backers of the new station that will be also be customized and programmed for Central Florida’s Latino population, with a particular focus on the region’s large and rapidly growing Puerto Rican community. The Orlando area is now home to the second largest Puerto Rican population in the continental U.S. and has seen sustained population growth over the past decade.

WAPA Orlando will take advantage of WAPA-TV's news and entertainment production infrastructure, which now produces 80 hours per week of original content, and will be the first station specifically serving Orlando’s Puerto Rican community. Its programming will feature news and entertainment produced in WAPA’s Puerto Rico studios, complemented by locally produced newscasts branded NotiCentro Orlando from Entravision’s award-winning news organization.

The station will initially launch with two daily locally-produced newscasts—morning and midday—with plans to expand to evening and late-night editions over time.

The partnership also will also draw on Entravision’s news resources from stations across 24 U.S. markets to drive expanded local news and editorial coverage for WAPA Orlando. This access to Entravision's extensive content and resources will complement WAPA Media’s original programming and journalism, enhancing coverage of issues relevant to Latino communities locally and nationally.

“We are excited to bring WAPA’s world class news and entertainment content and programming expertise to Orlando, which is often referred to as Puerto Rico’s ‘79th municipality’.” said Alan J. Sokol, president and CEO of Hemisphere Media Group. “By combining WAPA’s trusted programming and journalism with Entravision’s broadcast infrastructure and market expertise, we are creating a compelling and completely unique local service custom made for the Orlando Hispanic community.”

“The launch of WAPA Orlando reinforces our commitment to delivering relevant, community-focused media in key Latino markets,” said Jeffery Liberman, president and COO of Entravision.” This strategic collaboration leverages the complementary strengths of trusted brands to better serve our audiences, distributors, and advertisers throughout Central Florida. Our expertise in local media and news programming will be instrumental in driving WAPA Orlando's growth, especially as we develop and manage its new standalone digital platform to connect with the Orlando Latino audience."

Entravision will develop and manage WAPA Orlando’s digital strategy, which includes a rollout of digital platform solutions, including a website. In addition, Entravision will fully handle the sales operations and maintain a dedicated sales team and production staff in the market. As part of its customary service to clients, Entravision will offer creative support, talent-driven integrations, and turn-key video production, alongside traditional commercial and digital buys.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—Locast continues to expand its reach, announcing that it plans to provide its service of streaming local TV channels for free over the internet to Puerto Rican viewers sometime in the coming months.

Puerto Rico communication services have been dealing with difficult circumstances in recent years due to a number of natural disasters that have hit the U.S. territory. Locast founder and chairman David Goodfriend said Locast can assist during these times by delivering local TV to multiple devices over the internet, even if other communication infrastructures are down.

“As long as local TV stations are broadcasting, Locast can become a lifeline to the 78 municipalities in Puerto Rico during emergency response and disaster relief efforts,” Goodfriend said.

No official launch date has been set for Locast in Puerto Rico, but it is expected to become available sometime in 2020.

Locast provides its services to 17 U.S. cities. Puerto Rico would be its first location outside of the continental U.S.

Locast, which recognizes itself as a nonprofit that operates under the Copyright Act of 1976, allowing it to distribute content from local TV stations, is currently in the midst of a lawsuit from major networks ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC challenging its nonprofit status and right to rebroadcast their content. 

RAYMOND, MAINE--Like the island itself, many of Puerto Rico’s TV stations continue to deal with the devastation created by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which struck about one year ago.

To relieve Puerto Rican TV broadcasters from working to put their RF infrastructures back on air only to face Phase 3 or Phase 10 repack do-overs of the work, the FCC amended its spectrum repack transition phasing to assign a pre-Phase 1 deadline of Aug. 1 to these broadcasters.

[Read: FCC Allows Early Repack In Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands]

To assist these broadcasters, antenna manufacturer Dielectric has expedited orders from Puerto Rican broadcasters for 11 antennas, 10 of which are being used for the spectrum repack. The eleventh is replacing an antenna damaged in the hurricanes, the company said.

The antennas, which include top-mounted and side-mounted primary antennas, are in various states of manufacturing and shipping, Dielectric said. Among them are mid- to high-power TFU series UHF antennas and low-power TLP series antennas. The company is also providing RF filters and components to OEMs for these antennas.

Although Dielectric has two antenna plants with broad manufacturing capability, logistical challenges are bound to surface when there are close to 500 other repack antennas the company has contracted to build, said Jay Martin, Dielectric vice president of sales.

“However, that isn’t going to stand in the way of helping our friends in Puerto Rico. We proactively reached out to them to find out what they needed, and we’ve been diligently generating technical proposals for antenna systems that address their unique needs, such as withstanding Category 5 force winds and other extreme weather conditions,” he said.

For more information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo.

SOUTHWICK, MA. — Hitachi-Comark is rushing numerous Comark Parallax and E-Compact UHF transmitters to broadcasters in Puerto Rico so they can accelerate their Spectrum Repack timetable that has been impacted by Hurricane Maria.

The Puerto Rican stations to receive new Comark transmitters include: WNJX, WTIN, WAPA, WVSN, WCCV, WMTJ, WQTO, WJWN, WSJN-CD, and WQSJ-CD. Equipment production is underway, and shipments are expected to reach both repack and non-repack stations in time for their scheduled installations.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, one of the most destructive storms to hit the island, affected DTV broadcasters were facing the prospect of rebuilding their facilities twice over the next year. Earlier this year, the FCC granted their request to accelerate the repack schedule, enabling them to move directly to their new repack channels.

(Since most were originally slated for Phase 3 of the FCC’s repack process, they weren’t even scheduled to begin testing until April of 2019, with completion by June 21, 2019.)

[Read: WGBH/WBGY Taps Hitachi-Comark Transmitters for Repack]

On several occasions, Comark sent field teams to the island to survey the broadcasters’ facilities and draft individualized site construction plans to get them on the air on their post-repack channels. Comark also handled program management, shipping logistics, and on-site labor for installation and proof-of-performance testing.

Designed for high-power, broadband requirements, Comark Parallax solid-state transmitters are high efficiency, repack-ready liquid cooled systems offering Doherty performance and a future proof design. They’re available up to 27.5 kW transmitter power output (TPO) per rack cabinet, or up to 100kW with multiple cabinets.

For low-to-medium power requirements, Comark’s E-Compact high efficiency, air-cooled UHF DTV transmitters provide asymmetric broadband Doherty, solid-state amplifier technology, requiring less energy to deliver more power. With its 950W 3RU amplifier chassis, the compact, rugged E-Compact is available in TPO levels from 850 W to more than 10 kW.

While the transmitters will operate in ATSC 1.0, they can be upgraded to the ATSC 3.0 DTV broadcast standard in the future.

For comprehensive news and information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo.

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LAS VEGAS--FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told broadcasters Tuesday that each of the decisions the FCC has made under his tenure follows what he called “a basic philosophical choice about moving forward or looking backward.” 

“And on each, we’ve made the right choice — for broadcasters and consumers alike,” he said, saying that broadcasters should be allowed to innovate, that rules should match the modern marketplace, that broadcast service should be extended to more communities and that outdated regulations should be scrapped.

At the “We Are Broadcasters Celebration,” Pai walked on the stage to a standing ovation. He began by touting the different ways in which broadcasters have supported local communities, and said he believes the FCC’s job is “to create a regulatory environment that enables you to keep doing great work like this. A big part of that is modernizing our media rules to match the marketplace and technology of today.”

“When you look at all of our media decisions together, the larger picture becomes clear: we are simply allowing any and every broadcaster the ability to compete in a free market, unshackled by regulations that no longer make sense,” Pai said to more applause.

At the event, Pai announced that the FCC would soon open a special displacement window for LPTV and translator stations who need to move to new channels as a result of the incentive auction. Congress previously authorized the commission to reimburse LPTVs and translators as well as FM radio stations as part of this reorganization process.

The chairman also announced he shared a proposal with his colleagues to update FCC rules on translator interference. This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking follows up on a petition for rulemaking filed by NAB that would, among other things, allow FM translator stations to resolve interference by moving to any available frequency using a minor modification application.

[Read: Pai Says Puerto Rico Fund Will Not Benefit Broadcasters]

The chairman finalized his speech by saying that the dominant theme of the past year for broadcasters has been their role as first informers. Pai pointed to broadcast stations in the mainland U.S. that have embraced public health issues and charity efforts as well as stations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands who served as first informers during the 2017 hurricane season.

The event combined the Crystal Radio Awards, the Engineering Achievement Awards and NAB TV Chairman’s Award into one event. Actress Kristen Bell was honored with the Chairman’s Award while the Television Engineering Achievement Award was awarded to Mark Aitken, vice president of advanced technology at Sinclair Broadcast Group.

WASHINGTON—FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has answered a question that broadcasters likely had on their mind. Unfortunately, the answer is "no."

On Tuesday, Pai had "proposed to direct $954 million toward restoring and expanding communications networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands" in the aftermath of the 2017 hurricane season. The initiatives are dubbed the "Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund" (Bringing Puerto Rico Together Fund) and "Connect USVI Fund Would Improve Connectivity for Residents "

[FCC Funding Network Rebuilds in Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands]

The chairman's trip to Puerto Rico and the proposal were not entirely well received. One particularly critical article came from the Register: "April Fool: FCC finally bothers with Puerto Rico as chairman visits." Yikes.

On Thursday, Pai tweeted a photo of a San Juan sunrise with a seemingly innocuous caption detailing his itinerary — and got more than he bargained for.

Things got interesting when Juan Carlos Pedreira — a tech reporter for Univision in Miami who also has a J.D. — tweeted a question in reply:

Pai answered:

The internet, apparently, was not pleased by this response. A flurry of GIFs, sarcastic comments and other, more aggressive, replies followed.

This was not Pai's first foray into the world of controversy. The chairman is active on social media, and Twitter has been a favorite platform for citizens to air their grievances over Pai's position on Net Neutrality and other issues.

This story originally appeared on TVT's sister publication Radio World.

WASHINGTON—The FCC has revealed a plan that will provide nearly $1 billion for the restoration and expansion of communication networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands following the damages of the 2017 hurricane season.

Chairman Ajit Pai revealed the plan on Tuesday, March 6, for which he proposed to create a $750 million Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund (Bringing Puerto Rico Together Fund) and a $204 million Connect USVI Fund, totaling $954 million in assistance. Each fund would provide additional short term assistance for the recovery efforts from Hurricane Maria and Irma, as well as longer-term support for expanding broadband access throughout the islands.

The details of the plan include an immediate infusion of $64 million in additional funding for short-term restoration efforts; a proposal to allocate $631 million in long-term funding for the restoration and expansion of fixed broadband connectivity in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands; a proposal to allocate $259 million in medium-term funding for the restoration and expansion of 4G LTE mobile broadband connectivity; and the immediate conversion of the advanced funding the FCC provided last year to carriers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands into new funding by declining to offset that advanced funding against future universal service support payments.

[Pai to Visit Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands in March]

“The people of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are still recovering from last year’s devastating storms,” said Pai in the press release. “That means the FCC’s work is far from over. After my previous visit to Puerto Rico, I publicly committed to ‘thinking creatively and doing proactively to help restore networks on the island.’ The plan I’ve proposed today would deliver on that commitment and extend that vision even further.”

Pai will be in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands from March 7-10 to further evaluate the recovery efforts.

WASHINGTON—About six months after Hurricane Maria made landfall and nearly four months after an initial trip to the islands, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has announced a follow-up trip to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to review recovery efforts of the islands’ communications facilities.

Pai will visit the islands with members of the FCC’s Hurricane Recovery Task Force as part of its efforts to learn from the devastating hurricane season in 2017 and apply those lessons to future disasters, as well as continuing to support ongoing recovery.

[Pai Visits Puerto Rico, Comments on Recovery Effort]

Recovery efforts that have already been made by the Commission since Hurricane Maria have included advancing the territories’ nearly $77 million universal service funding, accelerated the post-incentive auction transition to support broadcasters, granted temporary waivers of Lifeline’s recertification rules, expedited the experimental license for Alphabet’s Project Loon to provider internet access, approved targeted and flexible E-Rate support to restore connectivity in schools and libraries, and granted more than 500 waivers and requests for Special Temporary Authority to re-establish communications in affected areas.

“I look forward to leading a team to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to get a firsthand assessment of the situation on the ground,” said Pai in the FCC’s announcement. “It’s important to learn what has worked well and what could be done better—and to apply those lessons to future storms.”

[FCC Allows Early Repack in Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands] 

Pai will visit Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands from March 7-10.

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission on Jan. 11 granted a request from 20 TV stations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to accelerate the timetable for construction of their post-repack channel assignment.

“The Commission has made it a top priority to assist with the recovery from last year’s devastating hurricanes,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in a press release announcing the decision of the agency’s Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau. Failure to grant the request would have left broadcasters suffering from the effects of Hurricane Irma and Maria with two bad choices, said Pai.

Either they would have to rebuild their transmission facilities on their existing channel assignment only to have to build again for their post-auction assignment in a couple of years, or they would have stayed dark for an extended period, he said. “Now, stations are no longer confronting that choice because they’ll be able to use their post-auction channel more quickly,” he said in the release.

Another benefit is affected broadcasters will now have access to the TV Broadcaster Reimbursement Fund to pay for the portion of the rebuild that’s attributable to the channel reassignment, he added.

The agency released the press announcement in conjunction with a Public Notice of the task force and bureau’s decision. According to the notice, all but two of the stations affected by the hurricane were assigned to transition Phase 3, due to be completed June 21, 2019. The others were assigned to Phase 10, which is scheduled for completion on July 3, 2020.

In requesting the timetable acceleration, the stations asserted moving the transition deadline forward would not divert resources away for other stations currently transitioning. In support of that position, antenna manufacturer and installer, Electronics Research Inc. (ERI) filed a letter with the agency confirming it could support the stations’ early transition without impacting its support of other transitioning stations.

The stations also noted in their request that moving to their new channel assignments early would enable wireless broadband providers to deploy their services on the islands ahead of schedule and thus help to alleviate the desperate need for wireless broadband. T-Mobile submitted a letter to the agency in favor of the request and said that granting it would help with rapid deployment of new 600MHz wireless broadband.

“Based on the record, including the letters of support filed by ERI and T-Mobile, we find that an early transition is unlikely to impact other transitioning stations’ access to resources and will provide additional public interest benefits by expediting the deployment of new 600MHz wireless broadband services,” the notice said.

For more information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo.

WASHINGTON—More than a month after Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai made a two-day visit to the island to understand the recovery efforts still in progress. After speaking with local officials and visiting a number of impacted sites, Pai recognized the challenges that Puerto Rico and its residents still face.

According to a summary issued by the commission, during his trip Pai visited various parts of San Juan and towns along the northeast Puerto Rico coast; he inspected a tower site and associated infrastructure in El Yunque National Forest; met with President Sandra Torres López and Associate Member Alexandra Fernández Navarro of the Telecommunications Regulatory Board; and attended a briefing hosted by FEMA.

Pai praised the efforts of the individuals and companies that have been a part of the recovery effort, including amateur radio operators, broadcasters, cable operators, fixed wireless companies, wireline carriers and mobile providers. “All of this work reflects the ethos I saw on many signs and t-shirts during my time on the island: ‘Puerto Rico Se Levanta’ (Puerto Rico is Rising),” said Pai.

“Recovering from this storm requires an all-hands-on-deck effort,” Pai was quoted in the release. “The FCC remains committed to doing everything we can to help restore communications networks as quickly as possible.”

To date, the FCC has assisted by providing $77 million in advanced universal service funding for the restoration of communications networks. It has also allowed fixed wireless providers to access 5 GHz spectrum and had FCC staff on the ground assisting in the recovery efforts.

“Looking ahead, we’re going to keep thinking creatively and doing proactively to help restore networks on the island,” said Pai, part of which he expects will include more funding in the months to come.

Click here for the most recent DIRS report for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

WASHINGTON—More than a month after Hurricane Maria hit, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are still feeling the effects on their broadcast and communication systems. Since the last DIRS update TV Technology covered, there has been improvement on the operation status of some Puerto Rico TV stations.

According to the DIRS report from Oct. 29, five TV stations—WKAQ, WIPR, WNJX, WTIN and WORO—in Puerto Rico are confirmed as operational. There are still two stations that are suspected to be out of service, WIPM and WELU. In addition, there are 67 TV stations that have been issued Special Temporary Authority to be offline and 33 TV stations that have unconfirmed status.

In the U.S. Virgin Islands, 14 stations have been issued Special Temporary Authority to be offline, while two stations have unconfirmed status.

Cell site service is also improving. Reports still show that Puerto Rico has 57.4 percent of its cell sites out of service, but all but 16 counties on the island have more than 50 percent of cell site service. The report also says that for the first time since Hurricane Maria hit no county in Puerto Rico has 100 percent of its cell sites down. Wireless companies have also opened up roaming on the island to boost access. As a result, approximately 64 percent of the population is reportedly covered by wireless carriers.

For the U.S. Virgin Islands, 36.4 percent of cell sites are still down, though St. John still has 100 percent of its cell sites out of service. DIRS reports that 93 percent of the population is covered.

DIRS is still activated for all counties in both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Read the full report here.

WASHINGTON—The impact of Hurricane Maria still affects the entire island of Puerto Rico, including its television stations. According to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System report from Oct. 12, WIPR in San Juan, Puerto Rico and WIPM in Mayaguez are still off the air.

Currently, only WKAQ-TV and Telemundo virtual Ch.2 UHF 28 are reported as being on the air. In addition, nine radio stations continue to be out of service.

There are reports that WIPR and WAPA TV (Ch. 4) have been able to broadcast by leasing other stations' antennas after their own were damaged in the storm. 

There has been some improvement in the number of cell sites that continue to be out of service, though the number is still high. In Puerto Rico, 76.1 percent of cell sites are reported down, though that is down from the 88.8 percent of cell sites listed in the Oct. 1 report. The U.S. Virgin Islands still have 55.4 percent of its cell site out of service, down from 68.9 percent.

DIRS is still activated for all counties in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Here is the full Oct. 12 report. 

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission has taken an additional step to provide emergency cellular service in Puerto Rico while the hurricane-ravaged communications infrastructure is repaired.

The commission has granted an experimental license for Project Loon to operate in Puerto Rico. Project Loon is a network of balloons that provides internet connectivity to users on the ground, led by Google parent company Alphabet.

In Puerto Rico, Project Loon will use land mobile radio spectrum in the 900 MHz band borrowed from mobile carriers currently operating within the U.S. territory. According to the Oct. 8 Disaster Information Reporting System status report, 81.7 percent of the cell sites were still out of service on the island; 57 percent are still out of service in the U.S. Virgins Islands.

“I urge wireless carriers to cooperate with Project Loon to maximize this effort’s chances of success,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in the announcement.

Pai explained, “we need to take innovative approaches to help restore connectivity on the island. Project Loon is one such approach. It could help provide the people of Puerto Rico with access to cellular service to connect with loved ones and access life-saving information.”

WASHINGTON—The FCC has responded swiftly to Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposal of advancing funds to communications networks devastated by Hurricane Maria in both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In a unanimous vote, the FCC will provide up to $76.9 million to help restore service in impacted areas.

With the vote, the FCC will immediately provide up to seven months’ worth of support from the Universal Service Fund, which helps lower the cost of deploying service in areas that are costly to serve. The funds that are taken from this action will be used to repair telecommunications infrastructure and restore service to customers across the islands.

The FCC staff will help coordinate network repair activities.

WASHINGTON—As broadcasters and communication services are still deep in the recovery process in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has issued a new proposal with the goal of helping carriers to rebuilt their networks more quickly. The new proposal would allow carriers to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to access their Universal Service Fund allocations.

According to Pai, in a statement released by the FCC, access to USF would make as much as $76.9 million available to repair wireline and wireless communication networks and restore communication services. The option to receive USF funding in advance is also provided through this proposal, allowing carriers to receive seven months of funding immediately rather than the standard monthly payment, to expedite repair and restoration efforts.

Pai urges his Commissioners to approve this proposal as soon as possible. If the proposal is not accepted by the FCC’s Oct. 24 meeting, Pai says that they will vote on it then.

Click on the Image to Enlarge

WASHINGTON—Puerto Rico is still struggling with the aftermath of Hurricane Maria as a report from the FCC reveals that as of Oct. 1 88.8 percent of cell site across the U.S. territory are down. The information comes from DIRS, which is still activated for all counties in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

All counties in Puerto Rico except for Bayamon, Guaynabo and San Juan have more than 75 percent of their cell sites out of service. Twenty-seven out of 78 counties have 100 percent of their cell sites out of service.

The numbers are slightly better in the U.S. Virgin Islands, as 68.9 percent of cell sites are down; though 100 percent of cell sites are out of service in St. John.

A number of TV stations are also still out of service, including WIPR in San Juan, PR, and WIPM in Mayaguez, PR. This is in addition to the 22 AM/FM stations that are still down. WKAQ-TV and Telemundo virtual Ch.2 UHF 28 are being reported as on air.

Reports also indicate that a large number of consumers are without either cable services or wireline service. Puerto Rico reports that at least 11 switches are out of service due to either SS7 or toll isolation.

In addition, the main Public Safety Answering Point in Puerto Rico is offline. 911 calls are being sent to the back-up PSAP in Puerto Rico. The U.S. Virgin Islands have reported its 911 Call Center to be completely shut down and is unable to retrieve Phase I or Phase II location information for wireless callers and ANI/ALI for VoIP callers.

INDIANAPOLIS & WASHINGTON—The Society of Broadcast Engineers and the National Association of Broadcasters are requesting that members consider how you can assist Puerto Rican colleagues in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Photo by Yuisa Rios

SBE President Jerry Massey sent an email telling members that the Puerto Rico Broadcasters Association, via the NAB, is asking for assistance in the form of “donations of time and material to make repairs” so that more of the stations on the island can get back on the air and serve citizens. Specifically, contract engineers are highly sought after at this challenging time.

“NAB has been in close contact with the Puerto Rico Broadcasters Association, and on their behalf, we did outreach to the broadcast engineering community to try and identify engineering resources that could be made available to help bring Puerto Rico radio stations back on the air. We’ve had a good response and are directing interested parties to the appropriate people at the PRBA who are managing the recovery effort,” said NAB Executive Vice President of Communications Dennis Wharton.

Those who are willing to help stations in this U.S. territory are encouraged to contact NAB Vice President of Advanced Engineering David Layer by email at NAB Headquarters as soon as possible.

This story first appeared on TVT's sister publication Radio Magazine.