Sale of PBS Affiliate’s Broadcast License Was Part of FCC’s Spectrum Auction
Contact: Meredith Hart, Marketing & Communications Director
614.247.2675, meredith.hart@wosu.org
COLUMBUS, OHIO, September 25, 2017 –WPBO-TV in Portsmouth, Ohio will cease operations on Wednesday, October 25. The public television station sold its broadcast license, held by Ohio State University, in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) spectrum auction earlier this spring.
The goal of the spectrum auction by the FCC was to improve high-speed broadband wireless access across the country, especially in rural areas. The discontinuation of broadcasts by WPBO-TV will free spectrum to help accomplish this goal in Southern Ohio.
The audience for WOSU-TV in Columbus and Central Ohio will not be affected by this change.
The Portsmouth region, located in the Charleston/Huntington, W.Va. market, is served by numerous PBS affiliates including WOSU-TV Columbus, WOUB-TV Athens, WCET-TV Cincinnati, the Kentucky Educational Television network and WVPB-TV in West Virginia.
Households in this viewing market can receive service from regional satellite and cable providers, and over-the-air with an external antenna, to continue to have access to quality, educational PBS programming from these affiliates.
For more information about WPBO-TV and this change please visit wosu.org/WPBO.
WOSU Public Media is a community-supported, noncommercial network of public radio and television stations, and digital services.