No Erie television stations sold their frequencies during the FCC’s incentive auction of TV spectrum auction, according to GoErie.com. However, most local stations will need to change frequencies. WFXP, WSEE, WJET and WQLN are all slated to move in the summer and fall of 2019 to free up space in the UHF band for mobile data use, according to a schedule planned by the Commission.
Those who receive the stations through an over-the-air antenna will have to rescan their stations, a process that usually takes about five minutes, according to Charles Meisch, an FCC spokesman. Cable and satellite TV viewers can continue watching their local broadcast stations on the same channel.
Stations likely will keep their old channel numbers. That’s because a station’s frequency isn’t always their publicized channel number. For example, WQLN is known as Channel 54, but actually broadcasts on Channel 50. It will move in 2019 to Channel 27, yet will still be recognized as Channel 54. “We send out an electronic message inside our broadcast that identifies us as Channel 54 when you scan your TV,” WQLN CEO Tom New told GoErie.com.
What will be disruptive to viewers is tower work to prepare for a new frequency.
WQLN will have to buy a new transmitter and install a new antenna near its Summit Township station. That could mean it goes off the air for a day or two, according to New.
WQLN submitted a $1.84 million estimate for new equipment and tower work to the FCC to cover the move. New said the amount will only cover about 90 percent of the station move. Other Erie stations submitted cost estimates:
- WFXP — $2.37 million
- WJET — $2.067 million
- WSEE — $990,000
The FCC has not approved the reimbursement requests as of Friday. WICU, a station in the VHF band, was not listed among the stations that are moving.
September 26, 2017
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