TX Radio: KNCT-TV To End Broadcasts, Radio Remains

Central Texas public television viewers will have to find Public Broadcasting Service programming from other sources after a Central Texas College decision last week that effectively spells the end to KNCT-TV, Channel 46.

The Central Texas College trustees voted 6-1 on Tuesday to rescind an earlier approval for the Killeen-Temple public broadcasting station to move to a new channel, Channel 17. The Federal Communications Commission is clearing stations from a certain frequency band, which includes KNCT, so it can auction those frequencies to wireless broadband providers, a move called “repacking.”

Repacking, to be completed by 2020, would have cost KNCT about $4.5 million for new equipment and other items, a figure the board anticipated would be covered by federal funds. When it became clear that Congress might be appropriating only enough money to cover 60 percent of the costs, leaving Central Texas College to fund the balance, trustees opted to reverse their past approval.

KNCT 91.3 FM (50 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area

KNCT will continue to stream local programming online, and KNCT general manager Max Rudolph sees the station repurposing itself as an online entity in the digital age with a website offering information, features and Central Texas College coverage.

The impending close to KNCT’s television service — the radio station and academic classes will continue as before — will end an over-the-air public broadcasting signal in Central Texas. The Killeen-Temple public television station went on the air in November 1970 as the area’s first public television station.