Richard French’s WRNN-TV Associates has been cleared by the FCC to acquire WTVE-TV Reading PA out of Chapter 11 for $13.5M, over a pair of objections. George Miller, trustee for Reading Broadcasting Inc., already had to overcome the collapse of an auction that left French as the last bidder standing. One objection on technical procedural grounds was swept aside as applicable for a new station but not transfer of an existing station. The other, a complaint about lack of local news programming, was denied on First Amendment grounds, and the complainant was urged to make objections known directly to station management. French is already active in New York with niche properties WRNN-TV Kingston NY, DTV-only on Channel 48, and it’s satellite WRNN-LP Nyack NY. According to Wikipedia, the stations play Jewelry TV and anime-formatted FUNimation Channel fare. WTVE, operating on Ch. 51/DTV 25, is considered to be part of the Philadelphia DMA.
