CINCINNATI—Hearst Television has signed a deal with GatesAir to provide transmitters and installation services on an exclusive basis for its 13 stations affected by the FCC’s repack of television spectrum, GatesAir announced today.
The Hearst Television channels being repacked include: WCVB in Boston; WTAE in Pittsburgh; WXII in Greensboro (Winston-Salem), N.C.; WYFF in Greenville, S.C.; WISN in Milwaukee; WLKY in Louisville, Ky.; WLWT in Cincinnati; WDUS in New Orleans; WKCF in Orlando, Fla.; WMOR in Tampa, Fla.; KQCA in Sacramento, Calif.; WBAL in Baltimore and WVTM in Birmingham, Ala.
Under the agreement GatesAir conducted audits of the transmitter sites impacted by the repack, which were completed before the broadcaster’s purchase and installation of the new transmitters. The broadcaster and transmitter manufacturer have completed plans to support the channel reassignment of the channels. Site audit information was sent to GatesAir’s Quincy, Ill., manufacturing plant to begin the design of systems.
Depending on the Hearst station involved and its new channel assignment, the transmitters to be installed include the GatesAir Maxiva ULXTE liquid-cooled and Maxiva UAXTE air-cooled transmitters.
Each of the transmitters will be equipped with the GatesAir ATSC 3.0-ready Maxiva XTE exciter and the latest generation of the company’s RTAC software to deliver real-time adaptive correction for signal integrity and compliance optimization, the company said.
Hearst Television previously relied on GatesAir [Harris Broadcast at the time] for its DTV transition and values its “commitment and experience to enable us to hit our marks over the next 32 months,” said Hearst Television VP of engineering Marty Faubell in a GatesAir press release.
More information is available on the GatesAir website.
