Washburn County Seeks Wis. TV on Satellite

The Washburn County government is circulating a petition to bring Wisconsin-based stations to satellite TV services in the county.

The petition is a result of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization Act of 2014. STELAR created an opportunity for county governments, satellite TV operators, and TV stations to petition that out-of-market TV signals be imported into so-called “orphan counties,” which are counties assigned to out-of-state TV markets.

TV market assignments are determined by Nielsen Media based on viewership — a county is generally assigned to the market which residents of the county watch the most. In this case, Washburn County has been assigned to the Minneapolis market for decades, except for one year in the late 1990s when it briefly flipped over to Duluth-Superior.

The petition seeks to add ABC affiliates WQOW/18 (Eau Claire) and WXOW/19 (La Crosse), FOX affiliate WLAX/25 (La Crosse), CBS affiliate WKBT/8 (La Crosse), and NBC affiliate WEAU/13 (Eau Claire) to satellite lineups in Washburn County. If approved by the FCC, the La Crosse-Eau Claire stations would be seen alongside Minneapolis stations on DirecTV and DISH Network.

(FCC rules for market modifications only cover commercial TV stations, so Washburn County doesn’t have the option of seeking Wisconsin Public Television even though county residents indirectly help pay for the network’s operation through state income taxes. The network carries Wisconsin public affairs programming and political debates in addition to PBS shows.)

WEAU, WQOW, and WPT are already seen on cable TV in Washburn County, along with all Minneapolis stations and several Duluth stations.

This is not the first STELAR market modification sought for northwestern Wisconsin, where a dozen counties are assigned to Minnesota-based markets. Several years ago, the FCC approved a modification adding the Wausau CBS and FOX affiliates to the satellite lineups in Ashland and Iron counties.

In nearly two decades of covering news in northwestern Wisconsin for broadcast media outlets, your reporter has observed a strong desire for Wisconsin news and information among the region’s residents. Minnesota-based stations do include Wisconsin news in their broadcasts and sometimes even lead their newscasts with stories from the state.

However, the biggest motivator in the quest for Wisconsin TV seems to be the Packers. Each year, several Packers games are not carried on Minneapolis and Duluth stations due to conflicts with the Vikings; contracts between the NFL and networks do not allow the Packers games to be shown on alternate broadcast channels (though anyone who has answered the phone at a Minnesota TV station during one of the conflicts knows that this answer will not be satisfying to Packers fans who are missing the game).

Washburn County says that residents should “ideally” return their signed petitions by August 31, which happens to be five days before the first regular-season Packers game. However, previous market modification petitions have taken months to resolve, so it’s unlikely that the situation would be changed for this season.

This year, Vikings-Packers conflicts are scheduled for Sept. 22, Dec. 8, and Dec. 29.

This item has been updated to reflect the fact that carriage of WPT is not an option since only commercial stations are covered under STELAR.