WPCO  2BJ ZCourierCourierCourier BoldHelveticaX@KX@HP LaserJet 4 PostScript LPT3HPLA4POS.PRSx  @hhhh\ RX@#|xBold#o\  PCXP#X01Í ÍX01Í Í2X)XuCourierTimes RomanT?xxxpx6X@KX@?xxx{x `KXLI~)`8.4`2PkCPL1sC8DF:s2PkCXP[dCYddddd7>d<d<$8YYdCCddooCYȾNXg~-<IQ_mx#|x2 M "S^..;]]o%88Aa.8..]]]]]]]]]]..aaa]ooxxofx.So]xoxofxooof...N]%]]S]].]]%%S%]]]]8S.]SxSSS8+8a8.888888888888f.o]o]o]o]o]xSo]o]o]o]........x]]]]]x]x]x]x]oSo]x]f]oSx]o]o]o]xSxSxSxSx]o]o]o]o]]]]]]x]x]8f8f88.fS8oS]%]8]8]8]%x]x]x]]]x8x8x8oSoSoSoSf8f8f8x]x]x]x]xoSfSfSN:.Z]8f]]]]]>=]8{{]8 "88]88]]SS%88"S^88Goo,CCNu8C88oooooooooo88uuuo˅z8dozz888^o,oodoo8oo,,d,ooooCd8oddddC4CuC8CC!CCCCCCCCCCz8oooooȲdoooo88888888ooooooooodoozodooooddddooooooooooooCzCzCC8zdCdo,oCoCoCo,oooooȽCCCddddzCzCzCoooodzdzdNF8koCzoooooJIoCoC&(CCoCCoodd,CC ?D  X` hp x (#%'0*,.8135@8:  ?D To:  J4.J4(dtvallotments)  ?D Date:  21 Nov 1996 8:35p  ?XD Subject:  Comments regarding Digital TV allotment proposals  p` hp x (#%'0*,.8135@8:ppa)  ?3Advanced Television Systems>ppa) and Their Impact upon  ?` 3the j` ` )MM Docket No. 87-268  ?( 3Existing Television Broadcast >ppa)  ? 3Services` ` hh>)  ? 3To:jThe Commission - Mail Stop 1170 Comments of Sunnycrest Media Inc. WSOT TV25 1. David M. Trimble Vice President General Manager of WSOT-LP TV25 submits these comments in response to the Sixth Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making in this proceeding released August 14 1996. 2. WSOT-LP TV25/Sunnycrest Media Inc. is a non-profit corporation solely owned by Sunnycrest Baptist Church 2172 Chapel Pike Marion Indiana 46952. Our phone number is 317 668-1014. TV25 originally began operating on December 26 1984 as a 24 hour cable channel on the Marion Cable System. Our programming purpose was to provide Family Programming You Can Trust. Because of the rapid decline in quality family programming as well as a lack of local originated programming for the Marion and Grant County area Sunnycrest Baptist Church stepped out and began to provide Family Programming that every family could trust. The programming was quality religious programs that do not constantly solicit money and quality local programs of high interest to the community. Because of the popularity of our cable station Sunnycrest Media Inc. applied for a low power television license in 1989. In July 1990 W25BN was granted a license. We began broadcasting on November 25 1990 and have been on air 24 hours a day 7 days a week for six years. We are providing a valuable community service for Marion and the Grant County area. Marion is located 70 miles from Indianapolis and 50 miles from Fort Wayne. The only coverage our city or county receives from these citys stations is when something negative happens. In addition WNDY TV23 is licensed to Marion but broadcasts absolutely no local programming about or concerning Marion. Their tower is located"h)0*0*0*5" 50 miles away from Marion and their studio is located at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in downtown Indianapolis. In addition they have no local office or local telephone number available to the community for which they are licensed (Because TV23 is licensed to Marion TV25 cannot receive MUST CARRY status.) 3. I say all of this to make the point that Low Power Stations like TV25 have become extremely valuable to the communities in which they serve. Over the past six years as a Low Power Station TV25 has worked constantly on increasing its visibility. We have successfully negotiated with twelve cable systems to be placed in their channel line up. Presently we have three town boards (all three towns are on the same cable system) renegotiating their franchise agreements jointly and their number one bargaining issue is for the TCI system to place TV25 on their cable system. Their main attraction to TV25 is all of the local programs produced for its viewers. Local programming is what has made so many Low Power Stations nationwide increasingly popular. They have brought back community programs. Local programming has continued to steadily increase on TV25. We average 15-20 hours of local programming per week. We are in our seventh season of local high school sports coverage. This past season TV25 broadcast 14 weeks of football, 34 basketball games (both boys and girls) 10 baseball games girls volleyball games and girls gymnastics. In addition we taped and aired local musical programs local parades local election coverage and sponsored local electoral debates between candidates for US Congress State Representatives State Senate Mayor and School Board candidates. TV25 produces and airs three live interactive call in programs: City Talk - a live call in program with the Mayor of Marion answering questions about city matters. Money Matters - a live call in program about finances and investment matters. Sports Talk - a live call in program about local sports. 4. TV25 also produces live worship services twice weekly from Sunnycrest Baptist Church. TV25 produces and airs three other taped programs: City Talk II - a magazine format show with positive stories about our community. Gospel Praise - a weekly music program hosted by a local talent featuring local and national music groups. Informal Forum - an issues oriented program hosted by a local talent with guests. 5. At Christmas time TV25 participates with the Care and Share Program for the needy through a live television auction and has helped raise over 15000 dollars each year. The money is used to purchase food for needy families at Christmas. 6. Lastly we have worked jointly with Taylor University which is in our county of operation to produce local programs. For four years we have aired Taylor University basketball games concerts"h)0*0*0*4" and speakers from on campus. Taylor has recently completed a new communications and arts building in which they plan to include a live link to the TV25 studio. This will enables us to carry live events from their campus. 7. I have given an over view of WSOT TV25 and what our station does locally for the community it serves in order to make you aware that this valuable community programming could all be lost. Unless some type of compromise agreement is reached between the Community Broadcasters Association and the hundreds of Low Power Television Stations just like TV25 all over this country. If FCC does not changes its position and actions 60% of all Low Power Stations will lose their frequency assignments to the new digital television assignments for Full Power Stations. WSOT TV25 will be one of those stations to lose its UHF 25 frequency to WTHR Channel 13 out of Indianapolis. WTHR TV13 will never provide the same type of coverage and local programming that WSOT TV25 is currently providing to Marion Indiana! 8. It is absolutely WRONG morally for an agency of the US government to establish Low Power Television Stations years ago with the intent that hundreds of community oriented broadcasters would arise (and they have) and then force half of those community spirited positive people to lose all of their hard work finances and efforts put into their local Low Power Stations. All because of new digital technology. Knowing there are realistic solutions available within this new technology it is especially hard to swallow that the FCC has refused to consider any of these solutions. It would appear that there is a concerted effort to eliminate low power stations completely. I certainly hope this is NOT the case. 9. I plead with each of you and your moral integrity to work with the Community Broadcasters Association. I respectfully ask you to consider their solutions that will insure that ALL legitimate Full and Low Power Stations MAINTAIN a broadcast frequency during this transition to digital television. j` ` hh>Respectfully submitted, j` ` hh>David M. Trimble p` ` hh+QWSOT TV25  ?$3Date:` ` November 21, 1996+Qppw p` ` hh+QDavid M. Trimble p` ` hh+QVice President General Manager ` hp x (#%'0*,.8135@8:; Thu, 21 Nov 1996 20:44:05 0600 MessageID: <32950348.4C4F@olynger.com> Date: Thu, 21 Nov 1996 20:35:04 0500 From: "Henry A. Olynger, Jr" ReplyTo: henry@olynger.com Organization: Olynger Corporation XMailer: Mozilla 3.0Gold (Win95; I) MIMEVersion: 1.0 To: dtvallotments@fcc.gov Subject: Comments regarding Digital TV allotment proposals ContentType: text/plain; charset=usascii  R3ContentTransferEncoding: 7bit v!U #`2PkC4P# v!U