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WFXS FOX55 DTV Update

By Robert Raff – Vice President

 

It has been a while since we had any relevant information to update our viewers on. The process with the FCC is still extremely slow and torturous.

 

In June 2008, we were finally given the opportunity to file our long awaited channel change request with the FCC. The commission finally lifted the freeze on applications that had been blocking our path for the last 7 years. Our filing essentially shows the FCC that the channel 50 that was allocated late last year is technically insufficient and that channel 31 can be substituted to provide better service to our viewers.

 

The FCC’s process is somewhat bewildering to outsiders. Once the commission looked at our filing and agreed it would work, they then had to publish that finding in the Federal Register as a Notice Of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR). This was published on July 25th, well over a month after our application was accepted.

 

In an NPR the government basically tells everyone what they “think they want to do”, in this case to allow channel 31 to be used here for DTV, and then they give interested parties 30 days to file comments on the proposal  followed by another 15 day reply window.  Once those two “waiting periods” have passed, the FCC then re-evaluates the technical parameters again and hopefully will make channel 31 available to the Wausau-Rhinelander area table of allotments.  This might happen by mid September if all goes as planned

 

Once all of the above FCC process is completed, we then are finally able to submit another  application for a construction permit for channel 31.  Here, we could see another 30 or more days while the FCC basically looks it over again.

 

Once the FCC grants a final construction permit, we are then legally authorized to begin the build-out process on that channel.

 

For WFXS’s part, contracts are already in place for the necessary orders for the transmitter and antenna components that we will need to have custom made. Delivery on most of this equipment is three to five months, so as you can see making the February 17th 2008 DTV deadline will be challenging. An additional major wildcard in the process is the fact that this equipment must be installed on our 1,000 foot tower in the dead of winter. Very few tower crews have the experience and ability to perform such an installation in Wisconsin’s severe weather.  We have all the players in place ready to start the process, as soon as the government says we can. All we can do now is to hope the FCC hurries along and that the Wisconsin winter is as mild as possible.

For those of you who bought an HDTV set when they first started coming out, I understand this has been a painfully slow process, but it is after all being run by the government. For those of you thinking about taking the plinge into a new HDTV or even a converter box, my advice is to wait until next February.. The sets will be cheaper, the technology better, more programming will be available in HD and you won't miss a bit of this NFL, MLB and FOX Fall Programming season trying to figure out this whole mess.

For more information on HDTV, TV/Antenna Reception issues or WFXS, check out the "About Us Tab" on our website, or feel free to drop me a note at rraff@wfxs.com.

See Ya!!!

The current gas prices have many people wondering what they will do for fun this summer.  I for one don't think Fun and Travel need to go hand in hand.

If you look in your own back yard, you'll find dozens of fun things to do that don't require much travel.  The obvious regular offerings include Woodchucks Baseball, The Grand Theatre, Music in the Park Programs across the state, excellent state parks, family events like the Jaycees 4th of July Celebration, the traveling tribute to our veterans in late July and just an enourmous amount of affordable value packed options.

In the TV business, we spend a great deal of time urging shoppers to buy things locally to help keep our economy strong, but that can also apply to our vacations and recreation. The more you do locally, the more options there will be next year, and so on..

So before you plan a distant vacation and start getting crabby about the gas prices, take a look at all the things you can do closer to home, and reinvest in the future of your community.

Earlier this week the flooding in the Wisconsin Dells had dramatic video of a lake overflowing and tearing apart several homes. I was almost immediately brought back to 1993 when I lived in Kansas. The same type of weather pattern dropped feet of rain on the North Central part of Kansas for weeks straight until our nearby  Milford lake could take no more.. The lake level rose well past what the Corps of Engineers thought the lake could hold and it finally spill over into a designed spillway and quickly devoured everything in it's path  It cut right through roads and fields, the water destroying everything in its path as it fought to find its way back to the river. Giant valleys of nothing were left in the path.

Then last night, numerous Tornados cut thru the same part of Kansas, nearly wiping out the small town of Chapman. 75 to 80% of the town's homes and buildings were damaged or destroyed. Another tornado ripped through the Campus of Kansas State University, home of the KSU Wildcats.  KSU will get plenty of help to rebuild the excellent college facilities, but for many in Chapman, this may be just a bit too much.

I hope the nearby communities rally to the cause and help this quaint little community get it's feet back on the ground.

I know I metioned it before, but you should really plan to be in town the 23rd through the 27th of July. The WALL, traveling Tribute to American Veterans will be in Wausau, Wisconsin.

Check out www.thewallinwausau.com

 

There are 2 upcoming events that I think are important events for this community. The first one involves the area Cub Scouts and is the 25th Anniversary of the Chuckwagon Skills Day. This event is really a joy to wact as the young boys pull minature replica wagons throught Cam Phillips from one fort to another, Each fort has a certain skill the boys have to learn or demonstrate. This is such a great look at the youth of our community doing something positive, and this event dates back to one of the first of it's kind in the nation.. Support your local Boy Scouts..

The other event that I think is really cool is being brought to town by the wausau VFW. It will be in July and it's called Celebrating Freedom. The center piece of this celebration an 80% replica of the Vietnam veterans memorial. I first had a chance to see this solemn monument many years ago in Kansas and it is a must see for every American who knows someone in the military or who just is thankful for what the military does. The wall has been updated and now is joined by monuments to all the other wars and conflicts as well. There is even a 9/11 tribute section listing the names of those who died in the Twin Towers. The event runs July 23rd thru the 28th.. You have got to stop by and see this.

 

You may see the announcement over the next few days that WFXS is providing Charter Cable with an HD feed to be placed on channel 785 on Charter's Digital Cable.. Now viewers with a HD set top box and HD TV set can watch WFXS's great shows and sports in HD. (Click Here For Press Release). 

Since this makes HD available to roughly half of our viewing market, I know we will have some unhappy people who think we are somehow being unfair or discriminatory. This is a legal and technical issue that makes the feed to Charter possible while we work diligently through the FCC process to build out our broadcast HD operation. I have put together a lengthy Q & A to answer all the many questions and complaints. Click here to See Q & A..

 

 

 

 

For those of you who are Vikings fans (both in and out of the closet), the NFL in their wisdom has again snubbed us.. They have assigned us the Cowboys again, even though there is no drama or excitement left as to home field advantage.

Before you call or write to complain to me, "I Do Not Make These Decisions!".. The NFL likes Dallas more than any of our other regioanl teams. Plain & simple, the NFL wants to make them KINGS.

Also, did you see the latest on the NFL network?? The last game of thier schedule is now also being broadcast on both CBS & NBC.. Seems the two east-coast teams fans made enough noise about not seeing the game that the politicians threatened the NFL's wallet, so they caved.. Too bad we're not that strong here in Wisconsin.

I've heard a lot of griping about the NFL's battle with Charter over carriage of the NFL network, and I'm a bit suprised at how few people seem to really see the bigger picture in this debate.

Nobody seems to argue the fact that there is nothing on the NFL Network to care about except the one Packer game per year. Nobody would be willing to pay every month to see the old archived NFL films stock or the retreads of past coaches show.. And there lies the problem. The entire cost to Charter, and in reality to you and me, is the annual cost compared to one three hour game per year. Is that game worth $20 to you? $40?  If so, then if they show 8 games next year, would you be willing to pay $160  to $320 more for your Cable TV. How does that compute you might ask?? Well simply put, to carry all the NFL games across the country on NFL owned networks, it would take atleast 8 networks, since that is how many games are played at noon each Sunday.  If you answer yes, that you are willing to pay the NFL for all those channels so you never miss a packer game, then call the NFL and tell them to let Charter add it to a sports tier and you sign up at $320/year. BUT, the NFL knows that viewers are not willing to pay those types of prices for any sports channel, so instead they decided to force every TV viewer in the country to pay them rather than just those who would buy NFL network as a stand alone channel.

Apparently the NFL is not happy with the $2.4 Billion, yes Billion with a "B" that FOX, CBS, NBC and ESPN already pay them every year. The NFL greedily wants more, and the only way to accomplish that is to turn the NFL into a forced pay per view service where the NFL provides maybe different 8 channels of games each Sunday and those channels would be filled with NFL historical film garbage the rest of the time.. No more free TV sports.. The NFL owns the teams, the games and then eventually the networks you watch them on. You will someday pay them for 8 channels, 365 days a year, to watch your favorite team play 16 games per season.

As a broadcaster, I'm no fan of the cable industry, since the 4 major networks  (FOX, NBC, ABC & CBS) together are 75% of a cable subscribers actual TV viewing yet we are the only channels on your cable lineup that Charter does not pay for.  If you think your cable or sattelite bills are high now, just wait and see what happens if the NFL wins this fight. Think NASCAR, Baseball, Basketball, College sports, Golf.. No more Free Sports on TV.. Every league would have an annual fee paid to them but collected by Charter to make cable the bad guys.. Charter becomes the Tax-Collector for the bigwigs who own the teams. 

 

 

It's simple and easy to start your own personal blog on myFOXwausau.com. Just go to http://community.myfoxwausau.com/blogs/Create.aspxa>
 and follow the simple instructions.

It's simple and easy to start your own personal blog on myFOXwausau.com. Just go to http://community.myfoxwausau.com/blogs/Create.aspxa>
 and follow the simple instructions.

It's simple and easy to start your own personal blog on myFOXwausau.com. Just go to http://community.myfoxwausau.com/blogs/Create.aspxa>
 and follow the simple instructions.

It's simple and easy to start your own personal blog on myFOXwausau.com. Just go to http://community.myfoxwausau.com/blogs/Create.aspx
 and follow the simple instructions.

I must admit I'm not a native of Wisconsin, so it did take me a while to understand the affliction of Packer Mania. I've been told that those like me who are new to the area must experience the Pack in a season of serious contention in order the appreciate the full effects, and this looks like it will be that year for me.
Since my blog is part confessional. I will state upfront that I was born and raised in the New York City area and I was a NY Jets fan in my formative years. Some local friends have told me that this makes me legally handicapped from a sports perspective. I tend to think of it as being in the recovery process.
What I'm hoping for from our viewers is a bit of help in my transformation. Send me your favorite Packer Moment or Story from years gone by. Give me a taste of how you became afflicted with the disease of Packer Mania. Were you born with it? Was there one game that sucked you in? Or did you have a close encounter with a legend from Lambeau? Most of my friends can remember a defining moment, although a few say the memory is a bit fuzzy do to a certain beverage or two.
I really appreciate any help you can give me.
 
 

Behind the scenes here at WFXS FOX55, many of us have been working very hard over the past few weeks to develop our new web presence at www.myFOXWausau.com. This has been a real challenge for us because the site is hosted and served in Los Angeles by FOX Interactive Media, the internet arm of the FOX Network.
 
As you might imagine, this new partnership has added layer upon layer of Bureaucratic nonsense to what was once a fairly simple process. While we still manage most of the material on this site on our own, some of the mechanical issues are handled by various intertwined groups within FOX that sometimes resemble a 1990's approach to new media.  A lot of divisions with very little synergy.
 
On the very bright side though, this new partnership gives us the ability to become a local leader in News, Sports, Weather, Business and Entertainment News on the web adding dozens of features to the site that we previously didn't have the resources for. This simplified Blog section will give us a better chance to inform and interact with our viewers and online visitors.
 
I personally will use this space to give our viewers a little peek inside the workings of a TV station, and try to shed some light on the "How's" and "Why's" of what people see on the air and on the web. I also hope to create some dialogues with viewers to get a better feel of what you expect from a media company now and on a going-forward basis. We'll try to educate you a bit, and you have the opportunity to educate us a bit. Hopefully we can grow a partnership that brings information and entertainment providers like us together with our consumers, like you.
 
In the near future, we'll be launching new sections that cover area Schools, local Arts and Entertainment, a robust community calendar and some features to amuse and entertain. As always, if you miss one of the great shows on FOX Prime time, you can check out our FOX on Demand and catch the episode you may have missed.
 
So take a few minutes to test drive our site. Remember this is a work in progress with a few bugs yet to work out.  Then, if you have suggestions of features or segments you'd like to see, drop me a note at rraff@wfxs.com
Welcome to Your FOX, myFOXWausau.com.