At last, a Boston area broadcast TV station is going to be transmitting a NextGen signal. WCRN-LD, physical channel 30, displays as channels 31-1 through 31-6. I first learned of the station’s move to ATSC 3.0 from a crawl notice at the start a show, and seeing that got me searching for this notice.
ENGINEERING NARRATIVE AND NOTICE OF ATSC 3.0 OPERATION WCRN-LD CH 30 FACILITY ID 9154 FCC FILE 00001113233 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Tyche Media LLC (“TML”), Licensee of LPTV station WCRN-LD has been operating as a licensed LPTV DTV facility employing ATSC 1.0 in accordance with FCC Rules. Rule Section 74.782(h) speaks to stations operating in ATSC 1.0 being required to air daily announcements or crawls for a period of 30 days prior to terminating ATSC 1.0 operation and commencing ATSC 3.0 operation. TML is aware of this requirement and commenced the required notifications on June 14, 2022. The station will not provide simulcast service. Effective July 14, 2022, TML proposes to commence ATSC 3.0 operation. The WCRN-LD operation will comply with applicable ATSC 3.0 requirements for digital LPTV stations. WCRN-LD will be transitioning to ATSC 3.0 without simulcasting as permitted under FCC Rule Section 74.782(c). The Licensee certifies that no notice to MVPDs was required based on Section 74.782(i) of the FCC Rules as there will be no change to the currently licensed facilities other than the transition to ATSC 3.0. The WCRN-LD license was granted on May 7, 2020, and now files this formal modification of license application to be listed as a Next Gen facility as specified in Section 74.782(g)(3) of the Commission’s Rules.
WCRN has seemed experimental from the outset, with programming that has been mixed, to say the least. Some of the stations are frequently blank, and when they’re active there’s no predicting what will be aired. So I’m not surprised that WCRN is the first Boston outlet to take this step.
What does surprise me is their stated intention to broadcast exclusively in ATSC 3.0, which is not an FCC requirement. I don’t have a compatible tuner yet, and I doubt very many people do have one. So, on the day WCRN makes the switch, it will disappear from my TiVo.
Follow-up: