FCC Staff Okays WUND-TV Community of License Transfer From Columbia to Edenton, Making UNC-TV Accessible To Satellite Subscribers in Nine Northeastern Counties

The staff of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Washington, D.C., issued a report and order on July 21, 2005 approving UNC-TV’s request to transfer the Community of License designation for the digital and analog transmitters for WUND-TV from Columbia to Edenton, North Carolina.   (The station will be identified in on-air announcements as WUND-TV, Edenton/Columbia.)   The ruling was extremely good news for Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) subscribers in nine northeastern North Carolina counties with a combined population of some 161,000 people because they will now have access to North Carolina-based public television service from UNC-TV on their satellite service.   The change will be effective on September 6, 2005, although the ruling is subject to appeal to the full FCC, and it is not yet known how long it would take for satellite providers to implement the order.

The reason the change will make UNC-TV available to satellite subscribers in Northampton, Hertford, Gates, Chowan, Perquimans, Pasquotank, Camden, Currituck, and Dare Counties in North Carolina is that, according to the provisions of the Satellite Home Viewer’s Improvement Act (SHVIA), these nine counties are part of the Norfolk Designated Market Area (DMA).   Unlike cable service, the availability of local television stations to satellite subscribers is determined by the “DMA” in which the station’s community of license is located.   UNC-TV successfully argued that transferring the community of license from Columbia to Edenton is essentially an administrative act that has no negative impact on local service or presence in Columbia.   Furthermore, more than 1,200 local citizens, as well as the County Commissions in all nine impacted counties, the Manager of the Town of Columbia, the Tyrell County Board of Commissioners and its Administrator, Senator Marc Basnight, the President Pro Tem of the North Carolina General Assembly, and the Managers of Camden, Hertford, and Chowan Counties all endorsed the change and sent written communications to the FCC urging them to consider the public interest in this request.   The broad public and local government support of the UNC-TV request indicates that the FCC has made a sound public policy decision.

In granting the request, the FCC staff indicated that since WUND-TV is only a transmitter that carries UNC-TV’s statewide programming, and since there will be no loss of satellite programming service to any other part of the state resulting from the change, there will be no adverse affect on any community in North Carolina.   The ruling stated that the benefits of UNC-TV’s state-supported educational, non-commercial programming will now be more easily accessible to viewers in the nine aforementioned counties, providing a compelling reason why the change will serve the public interest.  

Currently, there are about 10,000 satellite viewers in these nine rural counties, which will benefit greatly from having access to UNC-TV’s North Carolina-based programming.

“On behalf of everyone at UNC-TV, let me say that we are delighted to have the opportunity to make North Carolina-based public television service available to satellite subscribers in nine northeastern North Carolina counties,” said Margaret Supplier of Nags Head, chair of the UNC-TV Board of Trustees.   “I know from personal experience that media services and programming that originate in North Carolina is an important and valuable service to the people in this part of the state.   Indeed, I can now personally choose to have UNC-TV delivered to my home by satellite, and prior to this decision I could not.”

UNC-TV’s request to change the community of license was opposed by public television station WHRO in Hampton Roads, Virginia, which is also in the Norfolk DMA and is available to these nine northeastern North Carolina counties by satellite.   When this ruling is implemented, WHRO will continue to be available to satellite subscribers in the area.   The satellite provider Echostar also opposed the request, but was late in filing its comments, resulting in the FCC refusing to accept them for consideration in this case.

UNC-TV is North Carolina’s statewide public television network, providing digital and analog programming to all 100 counties in the state, as well as parts of South Carolina and Virginia.

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