The Federal Communications Commission said Oct. 11 that it is seeking comment on a petition filed by Community Television, the licensee of WJW-TV in Cleveland, OH, to move from channel 8 to channel 31 in Cleveland as part of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking the agency adopted four days earlier.
Community Television is asking for the channel substitution because it says following WJW-TV's analog transmission shutoff June 12, 2009, and launch of digital transmission on its post-transmission VHF channel "a sizeable number of the Station's viewers could not receive the Station's over-the-air signal, and many apparent still cannot."
According to Community Television's petition, viewers through its service area have complained about reception problems. Many of the complaints have come from viewers living southeast of the station's transmitter, it said.
Community Television is seeking to move to UHF channel 31 because that was its pre-transition digital channel assignment. Additionally, the station still has much of its channel 31 transmission equipment.
In its notice, the commission said it believes the proposal warrants consideration because it is compliant with the principal community coverage requirements of its rules. The proposed channel substitution also meets the technical requirements of commission rules, the notice said.
The NPRM proposes the substitution to channel 31 in Cleveland with DTV power of 600kW and an antenna height above average terrain of 1040ft.
The commission is seeking comment on the proposed amendment to the post-transition Table of DTV Allotments for Cleveland from the current channels 8, 15, 17, 26 and 34 to channels 15, 17, 26, 31 and 34.
Comments will be due 30 days after the NPRM is published in the Federal Register; reply comments are due 45 days after publication.
