A lower-power TV station and a local cable access channel are going head-to-head in this West-Central Oregon community. KWVT-LP is battling the Salem’s Community Cable TV group for the right to cover local sports, according to Tim King of Salem-News.com.
“In Salem, there is a very serious approach to PEG TV,” King said, adding that local coverage in the area traditionally has been “sparse.” Consequently, the local PEG channels are relatively popular. To further complicate matters, the Comcast system serving Salem carries the PEG channels, as it must according to law, while it does not carry KWVT.
The TV station and the PEG operation came to loggerheads over coverage of sports at the local high school, where King said there’s room for only one TV truck. The owners of KWVT, Mike Mattson and Ken Lewetag, said they offered a clean feed of football game coverage to the PEG operators, but were refused. Lewetag said KWVT would capture in HD, while the PEG was still using standard-def, 4:3 gear and demanded the feed be downconverted for the channel.
Tim King’s full coverage of the local Salem TV scrap is available at Salem-News.com.
