FCC Authorizes Auction of Spectrum Used by WHUT, Nation’s Only Black-owned Public TV Station

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, [http://dcrtv.com/|DCRTV.com]

[font color=blue]FCC Auctioning 32's Spectrum[/font] - 6/14 - From theroot.com: "The Federal Communications Commission has started an auction to allow Howard University to sell off [Channel 32] WHUT, our nation's first and only black-owned public TV station, leaving the broadcast airwaves to be run almost exclusively by white men." More: DCRTV hears that, as of Tuesday evening, the FCC's spectrum auction of WHUT's channel has officially begin. No word on whether any bids will be accepted and what it all means. However, a local media guru tells us: "Should just mean the over the air signal goes away, station still carried on cable. You'd have to check with them to see how much is being sold, could be just the subchannel portion, could be all of it".....

Sale of 1st and Only Black-Owned Public TV Station a Wake-Up Call on Media Diversity

Your Take: The Federal Communications Commission has started an auction to allow Howard University to sell off WHUT, our nation’s first and only black-owned public TV station, leaving the broadcast airwaves to be run almost exclusively by white men.

By: Wade Henderson

Posted: June 14, 2016

The possible loss of Howard University’s PBS affiliate could be a tipping point toward the extinction of black-owned broadcast media, but the Federal Communications Commission has no sense of urgency to fix the problem.

That’s not hyperbole. For years, the FCC has watched female and minority ownership of broadcast stations dwindle without much concern for the real-world implications of having our broadcast airwaves run almost exclusively by white men.

After ignoring 12 years of court orders to address this problem, the FCC has started an auction, allowing Howard University to sell off the very valuable broadcast airwaves of WHUT, our nation’s first and only black-owned public TV station.

That superlative has wrongly placed the responsibility for the very survival of broadcast media diversity on Howard University. That’s a burden for the FCC to bear, not Howard. But that hasn’t stopped critics from unfairly criticizing the university for selling the spectrum, which will likely go on to be used by wireless phone companies, earning hundreds of millions of dollars for the school and its students.

[matt819]

1. This sounds like a good opportunity

For Robert Johnson/BET to step in. He's wealthy, already has a media infrastructure, etc.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. I think the spectrum will not be used for over-the-air TV again.

WHUT-TV occupies the spectrum from 584 MHz to 590 MHz. It's takes up actual channel 33, though the Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) says it's channel 32.

See: North American television frequencies, UHF_band

The FCC wants the spectrum turned over to use for use other than for over-the-air television broadcasting. Whoever wins the auction won't be using those frequencies for TV.