report: NBC to sell Hartford, Miami TVs

[Scott Fybush]

Maureen Carney wrote:
> I highly doubt Hearst-Argyle would sell WMUR right now. BTW WMUR-DT
> is on several Comcast systems in the Boston area (I have it in
> Framingham.) Sunbeam bought WLVI in large part to prevent a repeat of
> San Jose from happening here. With WFXT and WSBK being owned by Fox
> and CBS respectively, that takes out the Boston full-power UHF
> stations out of the mix should NBC want to go that route. I would
> highly doubt they would want to be on WZMY or WMFP - not readily
> recongnizable stations even though they're both carried on Boston
> cable systems. Re-educating the public to where you are is no fun,
> and perception based on dial position (even in these digital times)
> is everything. Check out Detroit and the move of CBS from channel 2
> to channel 62.

There would be some other issues with a WMUR sale. As New Hampshire's 
only commercial VHF signal, and the only source of statewide TV news, 
I'd have to imagine WMUR couldn't be "moved" to Boston without a fight. 
You'd have politicians getting involved, and that could get ugly.

KNTV was an unusual scenario for another reason: it was technically 
possible (with a bit of stretching) to move the transmitter from Loma 
Prieta, south of San Jose, to Mount San Bruno, just south of San 
Francisco. I don't think WMUR could be moved into Boston as easily (but 
as the DTV allocations table settles down, maybe I'm wrong.)

Of course, Hearst-Argyle could sell both WMUR and WCVB to NBC. H-A has a 
bunch of NBC affiliates in the fold (WBAL in Baltimore, KCRA in 
Sacramento, WPTZ/WNNE, etc.) - but it has even closer ties to ABC, so 
that would be an unlikely scenario.

s