The Minority Television Project in San Francisco will give up its TV channel spectrum in exchange for its $87.7 million take in the FCC spectrum auction but hopes to continue broadcasting through a channel-sharing agreement under negotiation.
The licensee’s station, KMTP, airs a variety of local and international programming. With an annual budget under $1 million, it “has been financially challenged for nearly all its 35-year history,” according to a press release about its auction results.
If MTP succeeds in reaching a channel-share agreement with another Bay Area broadcaster, “there would be no negative impact to any of our viewers,” GM Booker Wade told Current. Such an agreement may require MTP to give a portion of its auction winnings to the other broadcaster.
The licensee will create an endowment from whatever earnings remain, Wade said, and will use the proceeds to acquire access to wireless spectrum to provide programming on viewers’ mobile devices. The station also will replace outdated studio and production equipment.
“It presents tremendous opportunities, and we hope to seize those opportunities,” Wade said.
They haven’t aired anything worthwhile anyways- including two empty sub-channels and the Korean music channel ruined with its constant rotating logo onscreen.