BOULDER, Colo.—Public Media Venture Group (PMVG), Venture Technologies Group (VTG), and WQED have completed a multipart agreement that they say will significantly improve over-the-air reception of WQED for viewers in Pittsburgh.
As part of the agreement, VTG, a television and radio station group based in Pasadena, Calif, donated WBPA-LD to PMVG for the benefit of public broadcasting. PMVG offered an operating agreement to WQED to make WBPA available as an additional simulcast signal for the Pittsburgh station’s programming. The donation was approved by the FCC on November 26, and WQED is programming WBPA under a simulcast operating agreement.
This unique collaboration is meant to help WQED overcome the challenge of serving antenna viewers with a difficult-to-receive Low-VHF Channel 4 signal, a problem the PBS station has been striving to address for some time. Most recently, WQED tripled its power on Channel 4 to 35 kilowatts, three times its previous power.
With WQED’s programming now available on WBPA’s easier-to-receive channel 12, viewers have a new option to receive the station that is easier for viewers. Through the “Program and System Information Protocol” (PSIP) standard that is part of television broadcasting, viewers simply tune to the same channel they always have for WQED, “virtual” Channel 13. Their TV set will pull in whichever signal is stronger.
“We’re grateful to the Public Media Venture Group for helping make our television signal more accessible,” said Jason Jedlinski, president and CEO of WQED Multimedia. “Simulcasting on a higher frequency helps ensure that more viewers in our region can reliably receive our broadcasts and stay connected to trusted PBS programming.”
“Acquiring WBPA helps give WQED the reach it needs to serve the region effectively,” PMVG CEO Marc Hand said. “This is exactly why we exist—to help stations strengthen their local service and ensure that public media remains accessible to everyone.”
