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Show Local TV station grounded by protest by CHRISTOPHER SMART Record staff writer KPCW's new television station is ' off the air because a protest to the station's license has been filed with the Federal Communications Commission Com-mission (FCC) by Park City resident Bob Ural. Ural, who operates Park City Home Theater, a pay television station, said he filed the protests because KPCW wasn't playing by the rules. According to Ural's attorney, Irving Gastfreund of Washington, D.C. KPCW's television application to the FCC was improper. He said that KPCW's application stated the station would broadcast from Summit Sum-mit County's old transmitter site on Rossie Hill when in fact it's signal has emanated from the Marsac Municipal Building where the studios are located. Further, Gastfreund charges that KPCW filed for a "minor change" with the FCC after the station was on the air asking that it be allowed to move its transmission site to Marsac from Rossie Hill. He contends the move should have classified as a "major change." Currently, the FCC has declared a moratorium on "major changes" as they apply to low-power, local TV channels. Gastfreund stated the protest of KPCW's application was not to give Ural a competitive advantage. Rather, he said, it was because the station was not following regulations established the FCC. KPCW Station Manager Blair Feulner said the station's applications applica-tions to the FCC were made by California consultant John Craven, who has helped numerous TV stations around the country gain FCC licenses. "Our position is that we have been blindsided on a technicality." Feulner said a number of factors confuse the issue. Among those is the fact that the county's old transmitter was not really located where it was listed on the original FCC application. "If he is acting as the guardian of the FCCin Park City, then why didn't he file a protest on the location of the county transmitters transmit-ters (before KPCW's application)," Feulner wondered. KPCW does not have the funds to . hire a Washington D.C. -based attorney, Feulner said, adding that he believes Ural is banking on that to keep the station off the air. "He (Ural) is endangering what I consider a town resource... This (KPCW) is the only way to get no-pay TV in town," Feulner said. KPCW began broadcasting in January on channels 9 and 11 as well as on cable channel 8. The TV station stopped operation in May. Feulner said he hopes to have KPCW back on the cable sometime this month. He promised the station would find a way to get back on the air. consultant who guided KPCW's FCC applications, John Craven, conceded the "minor change" should have been filed before the station went on the air. He added, however, the change was "insignificant." Craven explained that moving the transmission site from Rossie Hill down to Marsac was slightly more than the technical definition of a minor change. He said he thought the FCC would allow the move because it was down the canyon. ' Craven added that the move was so close to a minor change that the FCC had to study it thoroughly before determining it didn't meet guidhnes. He noted that the FCC had no problems with KPCW's applications until Ural filed the protest. |