FCC accepting comments on Wausau satellite proposal

HURLEY — The Federal Communications Commission is currently accepting public comment on a petition by Gray Television/WSAW-TV to include Ashland and Iron counties in its Wausau, Wis., satellite television market.

According to information presented at Tuesday’s Iron County Board of Supervisors meeting, the petition is requesting that area satellite TV providers be allowed to provide the two counties with Wausau’s feed, instead of being forced to provide the feed from Duluth.

When the broadcast boundaries were initially established, Iron County Emergency Management Director Stacy Ofstad said the FCC made Iron and Ashland County part of the Duluth broadcast area.

Ofstad explained at the time, he and other county representatives had argued the region’s geography and weather patterns meant Duluth didn’t always provide very good coverage to the southern part of Iron County.

This was problematic for several reasons, Ofstad said, including when broadcasting weather and other important information

“For weather alerts, and stuff like that, (getting a broadcast from a closer station) is a big plus, also,” Ofstad said.

“Now with this (petition), it opens it up for other satellite companies to be able to sell more local stations,” Ofstad said.

While weather alerts and other localized news is the stated reason for the switch, several county officials said a more popular reason to support the move is more Packers’ games.

If Iron and Ashland counties got the Wausau station, rather than the Duluth station, it would mean customers would get to watch the Packers play, instead of the Vikings if there’s a scheduling conflict between the teams.

Packer fans have been shut out of two games this season.

“If you ask 80 percent of the people, they don’t care about weather. They want to watch the Packers, they don’t want to watch the Vikings,” couny clerk Michael Saari said Tuesday.

According to an FCC email sent to Saari, comments may be filed through the FCC’s website, by going to fcc.gov/ecfs/filing. Comments can be filed in “MB Docket No. 16-293,” according to the email.

The docket number can also be used to view the petition.

Comments for or against the change are due by Oct. 6, according to the email.

Saari said even if the petition is approved, the satellite companies would still have to choose to add the Wausau station to the area’s package of channels, meaning it isn’t guaranteed that the station would become accessible if the petition is approved.

Saari also said approval didn’t necessarily mean customers would lose access to the local Duluth stations.