A Cleveland CBS broadcast affiliate owned by Raycom is trying to assure viewers that it is not going off the air following the FCC’s broadcast incentive auctions.
In what will likely be a similar scenario for other broadcasters involved in the auctions, WUAB explained in a blog post that only its transmitter was sold during the auction and that operations would continue as normal.
WUAB will now broadcast from the WOIO Channel 19 transmitter, which is also owned by Raycom and operates in Ohio.
"Just because the WUAB transmitter has been sold does not mean WUAB is going away," Erik Schrader, vice president and general manager at Channel 19 and Channel 43, told Cleveland.com. "In no way, shape or form will the programming you get at your house be going away. The station is not in any danger at all.
"Only those who receive WUAB over the air will be affected by this. At some point, and we will be very aggressive about educating people about this, they will need to re-scan their television, which they do from time to time anyway. And I strongly suspect that we will not be the only station pushing people to do this."
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The viewer education effort from WUAB comes as many broadcast groups are announcing expected auction proceeds while offering updates on the impact to operations. Raycom has yet to announce any expected proceeds but larger broadcast groups like Sinclair and Fox Television already have.
Fox TV, which is expecting to receive $350 million in proceeds from the auctions, said the sale of broadcast spectrum should not impact its TV markets.
“The anticipated proceeds reflect the FCC’s acceptance of one or more bids placed by Fox Television Stations during the auction to relinquish spectrum used by certain of its television stations,” the company said in a news release. “This spectrum sale is not expected to lead to any material change in the operations or results for Fox Television Stations or for any of the affected television markets.”
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Gray Television, which expects to receive $90.8 million, assured that the sale of broadcast spectrum won’t affect any jobs.
“Significantly, the actions necessary to receive the proceeds will not lead to job losses and otherwise are not expected to produce any material change in operations or results for Gray or for any individual market in which we operate,” adding that it will announce the affected station or stations at a later date.