London Broadcasting’s $115M acquisition of a number of Drewry television stations included an Odessa-Midland NBC affiliate. Its range was extended via a full-power satellite, and the FCC has determined that the relationship between the two may continue. KWES-TV beams NBC fare out of Odessa, and KWAB-TV does so from Big Spring TX.
RBR/TVBR observation: Just in the interest of efficiency, perhaps there can someday be a minor tweaking of the rules. Every time a television station with a satellite is sold, the arrangement needs to be defended from scratch. Why not disclose the fact that a flagship/satellite pair is involved in a transaction when the transfer application is filed and simply make sure that the arrangement continues to pass muster (as the almost invariably do) right then and there?
