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A Couple of Questions on Channel Sharing

M

Markxxx

I will use Chicago stations for examples, as I live in that market.

OK I understand how WFLD (FOX) and WPWR (My) share a channel as they are both owned by the same company. I am assuming since the amount of bandwidth is the same, the only reason for sharing the two station is they can do things like force a "must carry," because otherwise, why not just use one license to cover the bandwidth.

The second thing I noticed is that station WWTO is a full power station (now licensed to Naperville) but shares with low power WLPD-CD. So this means that the station doesn't reach as far as it could right? So my question is as a licensed full power station but only broadcasting on low power, does it still have must carry right?

The reverse seems to be the case in Boston where the low power NBC station, WBTS-CD channel shares with the full power WGBX so it gets the benefit of full power coverage without have the license requirements? Something similar but not exact in Rockford where WIFR-LD the CBS station has it's own low power channel but has an agreement to use WREX's subchannel so it is in effect a full power coverage.

Lastly the main question is how these sharing agreements work. I am assuming (and I may be wrong) they are only valid for a certain number of years. Now suppose WXFT (virtual Channel 60) is a guest on WLS-TV's (virutal channel 7) rf channel 22. Now supposing after this channel sharing agreement ends, WLS does not want WXFT to share what happens to WXFT? Does it sit in limbo till it can find some other station willing to share it's frequency? Or what elsee.

Sorry the post is a bit long but I wondered how this worked and often how it plays out in the real world. Any additional information you think would be informative or relevant I'd be interested in hearing.
 
Insert the standard I'm not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, etc.

1) I'm guessing a lot of their agreements for programming and carriage and the like are tied to the specific separate facility IDs, and it also reserves the option, as you suggest, to use must-carry should it become necessary for some reason. I could further envision a satellite company, whose policy is to not carry "subchannels," to declare that 50-1 is legally a subchannel rather than a separate primary stream, and thus doesn't need to be carried if they ditched the separate license. Finally, it also preserves the option for Fox to one day separately sell the WPWR license if it so chose.

2) Yes, WWTO retains must-carry. And to be clear, WLPD-CD is Class A, not LPTV.

3) The two situations are different.

For WBTS-CD, yes, it has a full-power signal without being a full-power license, but as a Class A, it has its own requirements it has to meet which are more stringent than LPTVs generally face.

For WIFR-LD, that's a straight lease of a subchannel on WREX and is not a channel share in any way.

4) Some agreements are term-limited, while some are in perpetuity. In the WLS/WXFT case, it is in perpetuity. See page 22: https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076ff35c78b44d015c891c97451818

Those that are term-limited, yes, they have one year to find a new channel sharing host or else the license could be lost under 312(g) of the Communications Act, just like any other station that is off the air for more than a year.

- Trip
 
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