BOULDER, Colo.—The Public Media Venture Group (PMVG) has negotiated a donation of W29EN-D, a low-power television (LPTV) station in Beaufort, South Carolina and has announced that it will construct the station as an ATSC 1.0 facility and provide bandwidth to South Carolina ETV (SCETV) for its groundbreaking educational datacasting services and other public service content. 

The station will provide expanded television service to 280,000 people in the Beaufort and Hilton Head regions of South Carolina.

PMVG, which is a nonprofit business development consortium of 33 public media organizations, reached an agreement for the donation of W29EN-D from Lowcountry 34 Media, an LPTV owner based out of Beaufort, South Carolina. The FCC approved the assignment of the station to PMVG as the new licensee on March 28, 2022. PMVG will act quickly to build this station since, according to a limitation on the station’s authorization, it must begin on-air broadcast service by August 2022, the consortium said. 

The FCC has also approved the assignment of LPTV station W35DZ-D in Cookeville, TN, to PMVG from Lowcountry34. PMVG will build that station in conjunction with local public television station WCTE.

Once built, the two new stations will bring new broadcast assets with combined market values of nearly $1 million to PMVG and public television.

"PMVG is thrilled to coordinate and close on the donation of these stations to benefit WCTE and SCETV," said PMVG CEO Marc Hand. “The additional broadcast capacity will enable these two leading public television organizations to better serve their communities, an outcome that exemplifies our purpose and value as an organization."

“SCETV always seeks to find ways to best utilize our resources and to expand services to our local communities,” said SCETV president & CEO Anthony Padgett. “This could potentially be one of those opportunities. PMVG continues to be an innovative partner for SCETV and public media. We are excited to continue to explore the benefits associated with this license and as appropriate seek ways to leverage this opportunity to benefit the region and extend our services through datacasting.”

"Our company helps broadcasters achieve the highest and best use of their license assets," said Jeff Winemiller, owner and general manager of Lowcountry 34 Media. "Our partnership with public television has brought important resources to communities in Tennessee, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania. We're proud to be working with the Public Media Venture Group to advance the important service that public television stations provide.”

Lowcountry 34 Media LLC is a broadcast engineering firm building infrastructure to support both LPTV and full-power stations nationwide. Lowcountry 34 Media owns 80 LPTV CPs in 27 states.

COLUMBIA, S.C.—South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV) has chosen Calrec Audio Brio consoles for two trucks –a 45-foot production vehicle outfitted with a Brio36 console and a smaller uplink vehicle equipped with a Brio12.

“With both Hydra2 network and Dante interfaces, the consoles are easily expandable and flexible with a wide range of input and output options,” says SCETV engineering project manager Benjamin Wilson. “The Dante interface greatly simplifies the cabling needs from the trucks to the set.”

As the heart of each truck’s audio processing system, both Brio unitsprovide a compact audio console solution with the features needed for broadcast productions of any size, says Helen Carr, Calrec regional sales manager.

The Brio12 in the smaller uplink unit can be linked with the Brio36 stationed in 45-foot OB vehicle, which is being outfitted by full-service system integrator Diversified, if a production needs more resources or more than one operator, says Wilson. SCETV is experimenting with the Automix function for mix minuses to different locations, he adds.

Both vehicles rely on MADI interconnectivity. The Brio12 uses one of its expansion slots in the console for MADI. The Brio36 interfaces via MADI with a Grass Valley TDM router, which in turn routes using MADI to the uplink truck. Analog I/O is used for external I/O panels on the side of both truck.

“Various A1s have commented that the consoles and routing are very easy to use and connect,” says Wilson. “They like to be able to move channels around on the fly without interrupting signals and appreciate having a full set of dynamics and EQ for each channel strip.”

More information is available on the Calrec audio website. 

CINCINNATI — The South Carolina Educational Television Commission is turning to GateAir for nine UHF and one VHF transmitter to support the statewide repack of 10 of its TV stations to new channel assignments.

SCETV has selected Maxiva ULXTE liquid-cooled transmitters for its UHF stations and is working with GatesAir on choosing a high-power VHF transmitter that will allow its WNTV in Greenville, S.C., to maximize service.

[Read: Hearst TV, GatesAir Ink Deal On Maxiva TXs For 13 Repacked Stations]

The FCC has assigned the public broadcaster, which transmits PBS and NPR programming throughout South Carolina, to four repack phases. More than half of its stations are assigned to Phase 5. Transmitters are due to begin arriving at those stations in the coming weeks to meet the testing deadline in early September, GatesAir said.

GatesAir is working with SCETV to avoid disrupting the broadcaster’s eight FM radio stations as its TV stations are repacked, the company added. Each of the radio stations is collocated with the TV transmitters in common facilities.

“GatesAir’s service department has worked closely with us and our repack antenna supplier, Dielectric, to ensure that none of our TV or FM operations are interrupted as work progresses,” said Mark Jahnke, SCETV VP of Technology and chief information officer.

Jahnke added that the liquid-cooled GatesAir UHF transmitters will help SCETV achieve its goal of reducing its carbon footprint.

“Considering the higher power levels of our stations along with South Carolina’s year-round hot and humid climate, GatesAir’s liquid-cooled transmission systems will clearly deliver the highest possible cost-savings across cooling and electrical costs,” he said. “While we’re still working through the exact calculations, there is no question we’ll immediately downsize our air-conditioning systems by a significant margin.”

The transmitters are outfitted with GateAir ATSC 3.0-ready Maxiva XTE exciters to ensure the broadcaster is ready for Next Gen TV operations, he added.

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