WNVT in Goldvein Va., licensed to Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation, has filed a request with the FCC asking for authority to cease broadcasting on its analog channel 53 and operate WNVT-DT "as a digital-only television station on DTV channel 30" according to Public Notice released July 16.
In the Report and Order in GN Docket 01-74 reallocating TV channels 52-59, the FCC said it would consider requests on a case-by-case basis by incumbent broadcasters on channels 52-58 to vacate their analog prior to the end of the DTV transition. It will be interesting to see if other out of core UHF stations decide to follow WNVT to avoid the cost of operating and maintaining two TV transmitter facilities (one analog and one digital). Some stations may feel that if most of the audience is receiving their signal via cable or satellite, analog broadcasting may not be worth the cost to maintain it. Under FCC rules, digital only stations are entitled to cable must-carry and can specify their digital signal be carried on an analog basic tier on local cable systems.
