TV Repack Final with Wisconsin, UP, Minnesota Moves

The FCC’s national TV repack is complete with a series of frequency changes that wrapped up on July 3. Many stations were required to change RF channels as a result of the discontinuation of channels 38 to 51, though some stations will continue to remap to those channels through PSIP virtual channels.

In the Upper Midwest, the last set of moves included a cascading series of frequency changes by four stations in Michigan and Wisconsin: PBS station WNMU/13.1 (Marquette, MI) changed its RF frequency from 13 to 8. Channel 8 was vacant after WDHS/8 (Iron Mountain, MI) was deleted in 2015.

Taking over RF channel 13 will be WMOW/4.1 (Crandon, WI), which was formerly on RF 12 but is currently silent. WMOW, which is a satellite of ABC/CW affiliate WAOW (Wausau), went silent on July 3. The station says in a filing that it is replacing the antenna and transmission line, gutting the transmitter building, and installing a new transmitter. It anticipates being off the air between two weeks and 30 days.

Now on RF channel 12 is FOX affiliate WLUK/11.1 (Green Bay), which was formerly on RF 11 and continues to remap to virtual channel 11.

(WLUK sister station WCWF/14.1 Suring-Green Bay also made a frequency change, moving from RF 21 to 15.)

RF channel 11 in Wisconsin is now in use by CBS affiliate WISC-TV/3.1 (Madison), which made its move from UHF channel 50 earlier this year. WISC was paid $48,929,182 to move from UHF to VHF High.

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There was also a chain of three moves along the Wisconsin/Minnesota border: FOX affiliate WLAX/25.1 (La Crosse) moved from from RF channel 17 to RF 33, but is temporarily operating at reduced power.

Now on RF channel 17 is NBC affiliate WEAU/13.1 (Eau Claire), which was formerly on RF 38. It too is temporarily operating at reduced power.

To make way for WEAU’s move, FOX affiliate KQDS-TV/21.1 (Duluth) moved from channel 17 to 18. It is also temporarily at lower power. (The temporary facility previously had been on the air testing as virtual channels 18.1 and 18.2.)

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Elsewhere, WMKE-LD (Milwaukee) applied for a license to cover its move to RF channel 36, having moved from 21.

The FCC issued a news release saying that 99% of the 987 TV stations that had to change frequency as a result of the spectrum auction repack met the FCC’s July 13 deadline. The remaining stations are on channels that weren’t auctioned off and received extensions due to unforeseen circumstances.

“I want to thank the broadcast and wireless industries, the tower crews, the equipment manufacturers, and the radio frequency engineers who support them for the hard work they have done over the past 39 months to make the benefits of the broadcast incentive auction a reality,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in the news release.

The frequencies that formerly made up UHF channels 38 to 51 were auctioned off for wireless use. It was the third time the FCC has converted former UHF TV frequencies to other uses, following the discontinuation of channels 70 to 83 in the 1980’s and channels 52 to 69 in 2009.