FCC Sets Wilmington (NC) as Digital-Switch Test Market

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is set to announce Thursday that it will run a test of the switch to digital broadcasting signals in Wilmington (NC), the smallest TV market in the Tarheel state. The congressionally mandated national switch to digital takes place Feb. 17. The FCC didn't return multiple calls seeking comment. The test in North Carolina, Martin's home state, is likely to take place before the November sweeps ratings period. If things do not go smoothly during the trial run, it could affect stations’ revenues during one of the months used to set advertising rates for the next fiscal quarter. The Wilmington market, served by affiliates of all the major networks, is the 135th largest measured by Nielsen Media Research, which says 179,760 of the 182,500 homes in the area have televisions. WWAY-TV, owned by Morris Multimedia, is the ABC affiliate in the area. NBC-affiliated WECT-TV and Fox-affiliated WSFX-TV are owned by Raycom Media. WILM-TV is the CBS affiliate owned by Capitol Broadcasting Co. WMYW-LP is the MyNetworkTV affiliate, and The CW has a cable-only affiliate. The market gets its public broadcast signal from WUNJ-TV.
http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/05/sources_fcc_sets_wilmington_nc.php
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