KNWA Begins HDTV Transition
by July 3, 2006 12:00 am 64 views
KNWA, Fayetteville’s NBC affiliate, began transmitting a high definition digital signal through cable provider, Cox Communications on June 20. The signal is available to cable subscribers on channel 715.
The station will actually broadcast an HD signal from its own transmission tower in Garfield after the HD add-on facility is complete, said Blake Russell, vice president and general manager of KNWA. The facility is scheduled to be complete on July 28, he said.
The Federal Communications Commission will require that all TV stations broadcast in digital television (not necessarily high definition) by Feb. 17, 2009. No other area affiliate is broadcasting in HD yet.
Russell said KNWA’s parent company, Nexstar Broadcasting Group Inc. of Irving, Texas, is doing the upgrades in phases at all of its stations across the country.
HD facilities are very expensive to build, Russell said, but the cost won’t get passed on to advertisers directly.