MyTV joins MyNetwork

[Doug Drown]

<<It's interesting to consider what would have happened had Providence
been stuck with the one V it started with, or if channel 5 had
remained a Worcester allotment, or if channel 2 had actually made it
to the air as a commercial station.>>

Does anyone know why channel 5 didn't remain a Worcester allotment?  It has
always struck me as odd that the traditionally-second-largest city in New
England has never had a VHF station that is a major network affiliate.  I
would have thought that the FCC would especially have given consideration to
that when it forced the Herald Traveler to divest itself of WHDH-TV.
-Doug


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Garrett Wollman" <wollman@csail.mit.edu>
To: "Scott Fybush" <scott@fybush.com>
Cc: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 22, 2006 9:37 PM
Subject: Re: MyTV joins MyNetwork


> <<On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 16:05:31 -0400, Scott Fybush <scott@fybush.com>
said:
>
> > In any event, as long as the market is defined the way it is, the CBS,
> > NBC and Fox affiliations aren't available to channel 50, since they're
> > already very much taken for the entire "Boston market."
>
> That is, of course, unless the current affiliates had decided they
> wanted to buy those stations, to operate as satellites.  Today that
> would make little economic sense; 25 years ago it might have.  But 25
> years ago, none of the Boston "big 3" station owners were in a
> position to do that -- David Mugar had just taken over channel 7 after
> the RKO General affair, Boston Broadcasters was about to cash out at
> channel 5, and I don't think Westinghouse would have wanted such a
> station given the then-current national TV ownership cap.
>
> It's interesting to consider what would have happened had Providence
> been stuck with the one V it started with, or if channel 5 had
> remained a Worcester allotment, or if channel 2 had actually made it
> to the air as a commercial station.
>
> -GAWollman
>
>