In the largest one-day frequency change the Upper Midwest has seen, broadcast viewers in Milwaukee will have to rescan their TV’s on Friday, Oct. 18, as almost all of the city’s TV stations make changes as part of the national spectrum repack.
The FCC is discontinuing RF channels 38 and up, having paid some broadcasters to shut down or move to VHF so their UHF bandwidth could be sold to cellular companies. Many stations below channel 38 are also having to change channels to allow for changes in adjacent markets, and Milwaukee is heavily impacted due to its proximity to Chicago and several other markets. (Robert Feder reports most Chicago stations are also moving Friday.)
Four Milwaukee-market stations have already given up their spectrum completely and most of the others are due to change RF transmission channels Friday. They will continue to show up on the same virtual channels after they change RF channels:
- WTMJ-TV (4.1 through 4.5) will move from RF 28 to RF 32.
- WITI (6.1 and 6.2) will move from RF 33 to RF 31.
- WISN-TV (12.1 and 12.2) will move RF 34 to RF 28.
- WVTV (18.1, 18.2, and 18.3) will move from RF 18 to RF 27.
- WVCY-TV (30.1) now originates on WITI’s transmitter after selling its spectrum for $76 million, so it will also be moving from RF 33 to RF 31.
- WBME-CD (41.1) will move from RF 24 to RF 17.
- WMLW-TV (49.1 through 49.4) now originates on WBME-CD’s transmitter after selling its spectrum for $69 million, so it will also be moving from RF 24 to RF 17.
- WWRS-TV (52.1 through 52.5) will move from RF 43 to RF 34.
- WPXE (55.1 through 55.6) will move from RF 40 to RF 30.
- WDJT (58.1 through 58.5) will move from RF 46 to RF 29.
Additionally, WYTU-LD (63.1, 63.2, and 63.3) moved from RF 17 to 16 earlier this month, downgrading from 15kW to 7kW and making way for WBME-CD’s move. (WYTU, WBME, and WDJT are all owned by Weigel Broadcasting, and some of WYTU and WBME’s channels are simulcast on WDJT.)
An article on WDJT’s website indicates its frequency change will happen at 1 a.m. Oct. 18 and that the station is transmitting at reduced power as it prepares for the change. WITI also says it is temporarily at reduced power, while WTMJ posted a Facebook video of its antenna being replaced Sunday:
The repack will put all of Milwaukee’s full-power UHF stations in a continuous block on channels 27 to 32 (WWRS transmits from Mayville). WVTV and WPXE will also be upgrading to the maximum power of 1,000kW as part of the process, matching the level already used by the other stations.
The only full-power TV stations not changing frequencies Oct. 18 are PBS stations WMVS/WMVT and independent outlet WIWN, which all transmit on VHF. WMVT sold its UHF spectrum for $84 million and began channel sharing WMVS’ VHF channel 8 spectrum last year, remapping to virtual channels 10.1-10.3 and 36.1-36.3.
Meanwhile, WIWN (virtual channels 68.1 to 68.8) is licensed to Fond du Lac and transmits from Milwaukee on RF channel 5. The move to Milwaukee and VHF was part of an earlier change that allowed Chicago’s WLS-TV to move from VHF to UHF.
The fourth Milwaukee station that took the spectrum auction buyout was WCGV. Sinclair Broadcast Group received $84 million to take WCGV’s transmitter off the air and ultimately decided to return the station’s license as well, rather than channel share with sister station WVTV. WCGV’s My Network TV lineup moved to a subchannel of WVTV.