Stations Switching Bands Following Frequency Auction
Three television stations in the Indianapolis market are moving to different parts of the frequency band as a result of voluntary federal auctions. The Federal Communications Commission has announced the owners of WNDY-TV Channel 23 and WCLJ-TV Channel 42 have agreed to sell their positions on the UHF band as part of the first-ever Incentive Auction, which is designed to free up more regulated bandwidth for wireless broadband.
WHMB-TV Channel 40 will move from the UHF band to High-VHF through its agreement. Trinity Broadcasting of Indiana Inc. owns WCLJ-TV and will receive nearly $18.8 million to take its current UHF signal off the air. The owner of WNDY-TV, Nexstar Broadcasting Inc., will give up their UHF bandwidth for nearly $17.8 million. LeSEA Broadcasting of Indianapolis Inc. is the owner of WHMB-TV, which will transition to its new band for $18.3 million.
Changing positions on the broadcast spectrum does not always mean the stations’ programming will be taken off the air. Through other arrangements, stations can find ways to broadcast through the same channel as they did before the auction agreement.
The auction officially closed Thursday and the 39-month transition process will begin for all affected stations. Throughout the country, 175 transactions took place. The FCC says the auction pulled in $19.8 billion in total revenue, $7 billion of which will go toward deficit reduction with the U.S. Treasury.