The announcement from NBC came Thursday in an employee memo acquired by the Globe, and stated that the network plans to create a local news team to staff the new station. The memo did not specify where the NBC Boston station would broadcast from, but WHDH-TV owner Ed Ansin told the Globe that the network had plans to move programming to WNEU-TV, an NBC-owned station in New Hampshire that currently broadcasts Telemundo.
Ansin said the move isn’t final, as he plans to fight NBC’s decision on the grounds that the move violates a Federal Communications Commission agreement with the network, the Globe reported. He cited concerns as to whether the move to a smaller media market would best suit public interest, as NBC has committed to producing a certain amount of free broadcasting.
“I have a feeling a year from now we will still be the NBC affiliate,” Ansin told the Globe. “That’s how serious we think the violations are.”
7News Boston WHDH-TV
Station owner Ed Ansin says he's fighting to keep that from happening.
"We intend to contest NBC's plans," said Ansin.
Ansin says NBC's planned TV divorce could violate an agreement Comcast made with the FCC to let the cable giant buy NBC five years ago.
Comcast promised to make sure people could continue to get NBC programming free over the air without being forced to buy cable.
NBC tells WHDH its programs will air on a signal broadcasting from Merrimack, New Hampshire. But as a map based on FCC information shows, that signal doesn't reach half of the city of Boston and millions of viewers farther south.
"They have the right to buy a station, change affiliation. That's their privilege. They don't have a right to violate the agreement between Comcast and NBC and the affiliates, and the government," Ansin said. "This is clearly not in the public interest. They will have half the coverage area of Channel 7. They will reach less than half of the population."
No comments:
Post a Comment