I have a hypothetical question you may be able to answer. If a legacy channel 5 now uses an UHF RF channel and a new TV station comes on the air in the same market using RF channel 5, how would that new station advertise their channel? Would they be prohibited for marketing themselves as channel 5 or using virtual channel 5?
Yes, most likely the new station would have to use a different virtual channel number.
The FCC regulates virtual channel numbers and would not allow a new station to use a virtual channel that’s already in use in the coverage area. They don’t want viewers to be confused by receiving two separate stations on the same virtual channel.
In your scenario, the station already using virtual channel 5 would get to keep using it. The new station transmitting on RF channel 5 would have to use a different virtual channel.
I’m not aware of any situation involving full-power stations in the Upper Midwest that is directly like the scenario you describe. However, there have been some new low-power UHF TV stations that use virtual channel numbers that are different than their RF channel due to overlap with an existing station using that channel virtually.
But, there are many situations similar to your scenario involving stations that have existed since the analog era and found themselves on different digital RF channels.
For example, in the Twin Cities, WUCW uses virtual channel 23.1 due to its former analog channel 23 but now transmits on RF channel 22, while KTCI transmits on RF channel 23 and remaps to virtual channel 2.3 (rather than its former analog channel, 17).
Another example is in the Milwaukee market, where WIWN/68.1 (Fond du Lac) moved its RF broadcast to channel 5 but continues to remap to 68.1, with WMAQ (Chicago) on virtual channel 5.1.
I should note that the process of starting up a new full-power TV station is long and complicated, starting with the formal process of allotting a new channel to a community. There are currently no such proceedings in the Upper Midwest. It’s unlikely that any new full-power TV stations will be coming on the air anytime soon other than the ones that were granted as a result of an auction last summer.
Do you have a question about broadcasting? Email [email protected] and I’ll do my best to find an answer!