Identity Crisis Stations may have to change channels in shift to digital By Bill McConnell -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/17/2004 For more than 50 years, WWOR New York has built a brand around its location on the dial: channel 9. The station bills its 10 p.m. newscast "UPN9 News," and callers with tips for the investigative team are asked to phone 1-800-CH9-News. The latest headlines can be accessed on UPN9.com, and, of course, the number 9 is prominent in its logo-in type twice as big as its call letters or network affiliation. But WWOR may be facing an identity crisis. As soon as 24 months, the Fox-owned station may lose its highly prized single-digit spot on the TV dial for a new channel, 38, erasing enormous brand identity built up since the station was founded in 1949. That's because WBPH Philadelphia has first call on channel 9 when stations shift to an all-digital-TV format as mandated by law. Because the two stations' transmitters are so close, WWOR can keep using channel 9 only if it gives up some of its coverage area-a loss of audience WWOR can ill afford. But moving to channel 38 may be a worse fate, allowing WWOR to keep its coverage area but exiling it to what Paxson Communications chief Bud Paxson calls the UHF "wasteland," the bank of double-digit channels known for bad reception and low ratings. The DTV transition is forcing hundreds of big-market stations to make a similar choice. Because of interference from new neighbors, some of the more than 300 major-market stations in the Northeast, the Great Lakes area, and northern California will be forced by the government to return their longtime analog channel when they go all-digital. Others will find their old location unappealing because they may have to surrender audience-the decision WWOR faces-so a move to a new channel may be the only choice. For stations, the transition calls for aggressive new marketing-new logos, new promos, even new jingles-to coax viewers into changing the channel. The difficult choice is being forced on stations by the TV industry's switch to all-digital channels, which some hard-liners in Congress want to complete by 2006. The FCC estimates the transition will be completed by 2009. ... http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA417940 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.