Antenna TV viewers will need do a “rescan” so their TV tuners find the new locations of their favorite channels. That's because the Federal Communications Commission is requiring Jacksonville broadcasters to make some changes that affect TV sets that get signals over the air.
Jean Kiddoo, chair of the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force task force, says the frequencies broadcast by TV stations are changing to accommodate the country’s growing wireless needs.
“We freed up some spectrum for that. And what that means is that TV stations just have to be rearranged,” said Kiddoo.
Starting Friday, May 1, at noon, WJCT’s channels will be on their new frequencies. But even though the frequencies are changing, the channel numbers will stay the same after the rescan.
That means antenna TV viewers will continue to receive WJCT’s lineup of programming on channels 7.1 (PBS), 7.2 (Create), 7.3 (PBS Kids), 7.4 (The Florida Channel) and 7.5 (World).
“We've protected the contours of all the TV stations we're having to change, so they won't have any viewership impact,” said Kiddoo.
To rescan your television’s tuner select scan or autotune from your TV or converter box’s menu to start the scanning process. This process usually takes a few minutes to complete.
In Jacksonville, the frequency changes have been underway for several months, and several other stations have already made the switch.
The FCC has set up a hotline for anyone that runs into an issue.
“We have a call center that's set up seven days a week from 8am to 1am. Eastern Time - so evenings and weekends - as well as during the work day. And the number for that call center is 1-888-call-FCC, which is 1-888-225-5322," said Kiddoo.
WJCT’s engineering team doesn’t expect any issue with the transition, but if there were to be a problem with programming, WJCT will post a notice on its Facebook page and provide updates at 89.9 FM and WJCT.org.
WJCT viewers on cable, satellite, Passport or in the WJCT app, don't need to do anything.
Additional Information
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
