How do you start your own local HD TV Station?

Question

I'm a business owner and I'm just curious how businesses get licencing to broadcast HD TV, what the costs are, etc. Does anyone know?

Thanks!

Answer 1

This answer assumes you are in the US.

Starting a TV station can be a very expensive proposition.  There are two basic types in the US.  Both require licenses from the FCC.

Low Power (LPTV):  These are stations that have low power and therefore greatly reduced coverage.  In exchange for the reduced coverage, the FCC requires less of a regulatory burden.  There is a local origination requirement.  My guess would be to budget about $1 to $1.5 million for start up.

Full Power TV:  These are stations that cover a major metropolitan area and the surrounding areas.  There are requirements for ownership, citizenship, and commitments to public service as well as technical requirements.  I haven't built one since 1989 so my guess would be to budget $7 to $10 million for start up.  If the project is fast tracked, you could be on the air 9 - 12 months after the construction permit is issued.  Be advised, sometimes the license application turns into a competition between entities for the license grant which can turn into a drawn out legal battle just to get to the construction permit stage.

You would also need to arrange for programming for your station.

One possability in the new digital world would be a sub channel of an existing station.  I don't know what the legal entanglements would be here as I have never seen it done before.  All of this is very new.  Technically, one would have to add encoder equipment to a broadcaster's existing encoder stack and provide connectivity.  This would cost about $100K.  The subchannel would be a liability under the broadcaster's license and therefore they would have most of the exposure.  I'm sure they would want a negotiable lease payment for the use of their facilities, too.  So, you may not get many takers on this idea.  But, I thought I would throw it out anyway.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Here is another problem: there is not enough frequencies for the channels we have now.  You wont be able to broadcast because the spectrum is all used up.

Hear about the DTV turning off analog TV transmissions in Feb next year? The one and only reason for doing this is to free up some channels for other uses. (Digital channels can mix ... about 6 standard def channels in the same frequencies occupied by 1 analog channel.)

You are a "business owner" - how would you make money?

The answer: advertising - it pays for all of television.

This is why so many people put up websites - to sell advertising space.

It would only cost you a few thousand dollars to host a web site and get someone to create the initial pages, then you put banner ads/PODS on the site. But you need content to get your hits up.

What sort of content did you have in mind for HD? You wont get advertising money unless you have some reason for me to tune in/surf your site.