Weigel Seeks to Move Future TV Station Closer to Green Bay

Weigel Broadcasting’s TV-49, Inc. has submitted a petition for rulemaking with the FCC to move a future TV station closer to Green Bay.

TV-49 won the construction permit for channel 31 in Wittenberg in an auction last year. Its petition seeks to change the future station’s community of license to Shawano, which is about 30 miles closer to Green Bay.

A coverage map submitted with the petition in July shows a possible 1,000kW facility transmitting from Shawano that would rimshot Green Bay. The filing was amended in September to instead specify a 65kW facility from Shawano.

Channel 31 is Wittenberg’s only TV allotment. Though the FCC generally does not approve changes that remove a community’s only allotment, Weigel argues that Wittenberg would not actually lose service since the station has not yet been built, that Shawano has a population that is about ten times larger than Wittenberg, and that Wittenberg would still receive service from other stations.

Both communities are in Shawano County, which is in the Green Bay market. As a full-power license, the new station will be able to exert must-carry rights on cable and satellite providers in the market.

The channel 31 Wittenberg allotment was formerly occupied by WFXS-DT/55.1, which had served as the Wausau market’s FOX affiliate but returned its license after its programming moved to another station. The allotment then went up for auction last year.

Chicago-based Weigel operates a half-dozen national networks including MeTV, which does not currently have an affiliate in Green Bay. Weigel also owns stations in Milwaukee.

This item was originally posted July 26, 2023, and was updated Sept. 17 to indicate a change in the station’s proposed power level.

Disclosure: Jon Ellis was an employee of Gray Media Group at the time this item was posted. The statements and views expressed in this posting are his own and do not reflect those of Gray Media Group.