Russia-backed TV channel RT is gone from DC-area broadcasts (and everyone else at MHz).

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, DCRTV: http://www.dcrtv.com/index.html

RT Loses DC Broadcast Signal - 3/29 - From Bloomberg Politics: Russia's English-language broadcasting network RT, described by US intelligence agencies as part of Moscow's "state-run propaganda machine," will disappear from television screens in the Nation's Capital at midnight April 1. That's when WNVT and WNVC, a pair of digital TV stations in Northern Virginia that carry about a dozen foreign news services including RT, will go off the air. It's a year to the day since the station’s owner auctioned off its share of the airwaves for use by developers of wireless applications. RT will also disappear from local cable systems, which are required by federal law to carry all broadcasters in their area. Anna Belkina, RT's deputy editor in chief, says that RT would continue to work with distribution partners in the DC area. She added that the Justice Department, which required RT's US production company to register with it under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, had made that more difficult.....

And the DCRTV mailbag: http://www.dcrtv.com/mailbag.html

WNVC/T are no more. Watching 30.1 at 11:59, some French program on MHz WorldView wrapped up, they ran two channel-share PSAs (lot of good that does now), then an ident, then the next show started and 30 seconds later *poof* no more. Kind of unceremonious when you think about it. Anyone reading this able to pick up WCVE or WHTJ? We know WNVC/T will not continue airing MHz - I was told in an e-mail that there will be PBS-ish programming, the same as on all their other stations. (4/1/18)

Russia-backed TV channel RT is gone from DC-area broadcasts

By The Associated Press
April 2, 2018 12:51 pm

....
The station, WNVC in Fairfax, shut down because the frequency on which it was broadcast had been sold. Sunday’s closure pulled the plug on about a dozen digital broadcast channels that offered international programming.

The channels were also transmitted by the region’s cable providers. And despite going off the air in February, RT had remained on cable — where the vast majority of its television viewers were — until the station’s demise.

[dhol82]

1. Will it be replaced by Sinclair?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. No. No one will replace it.

The station's owner participated in the FCC's frequency auction last year. It sold the frequencies and closed up shop.

MHz Worldview - WNVC & WNVT in D.C. to go off the air on April 1

[dhol82]

3. Interesting

Wonder what gremlins will now pop up?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. There was nothing political about this decision. The station owner decided it was time to move on.

Stations all over the country are repacking frequencies.

[stonecutter357]

4. good !

[Yonnie3]

6. WHTJ and WVPT are still carrying the Worldwide program

Channels 41.3 (46) WHTJ and 51.3 (11) WVPT are IDing as such. No news though. It took me a while to get back to this and I discovered this:

"We will be performing network maintenance and upgrading our broadcast operations center during the month of April. As a result, we won’t have the ability to relay our live news broadcasts during that time. All news programming will be on hiatus for the month of April and will resume as usual as of May 1, 2018. We will be airing a number of selections from our prime time mystery catalog during news blocks. We do apologize for the inconvenience."

https://mhznetworks.com/mhz-worldview-news-blocks-on-hiatus-for-april/

I wanted to respond right away, but the mystery programming made me wonder if all the news feeds were gone. I got busy with taxes and equipment repairs and forgot all about it.

It has been a while, but I enjoyed the rotation through all the countries' news programs on MHZ and noted the difference in the treatment of the same items as well as what was the lead and what was missing. I used to listen to Shortwave news often and did the same.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. From your link, it was WNVC and WNVT that went SK, so to speak.

SK = silent key; i.e., an amateur radio operator has died.

"Shifts Distribution Model and Methods" = "the owner sold the frequencies and turned the power off."

MHz Networks Shifts Distribution Model and Methods in D.C. DMA

MARCH 17, 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Washington – MHz Networks will end its broadcast and cable distribution of their international news channels in the Washington, D.C. market on March 31, 2018. The move represents a change in television technologies as the company grows into the digital streaming world with MHz Choice and MHz Worldview.

“The broadcast and cable television industries have undergone major changes, and challenges, during the past ten years”, said Frederick Thomas, President of MHz Networks. “Faced with the economics involved in acquiring a new broadcast platform and facility, while also growing a subscription streaming service (MHz Choice) and a national network (MHz Worldview) we had to make a realistic and difficult decision.”

After the spectrum that carried WNVC and WNVT was sold by the owner in the FCC spectrum auction, MHz had to find a new broadcast home for its D.C. channels. “In the last eight months we have tried multiple approaches to keep the international channels alive in D.C.,” says Thomas. “We looked at acquiring another license and to other providers for channel carriage. The former ended in too many moving pieces and the latter proved difficult for the cable systems without a must-carry broadcast partner.” MHz Networks received no compensation for the sale of the broadcast spectrum.

From 2017:

Virginia network gets $182M from sale of two stations in spectrum auction

By Mike Janssen Mike Janssen, Digital Editor | March 31, 2017

Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corp. in Richmond, Va., will receive $182 million for the sale of two Virginia TV stations in the FCC spectrum auction, the broadcaster announced Thursday.

The stations going dark, WNVC in Fairfax and WNVT in Goldvein, are programmed by MHz Networks, a nonprofit that has been independent of Commonwealth since 2013. WNVC is selling for $124.8 million; WNVT, for $57.1 million. ... WNVC and WNVT now carry programming aimed at a multicultural audience in suburban Washington, D.C., including some locally produced shows about Indian and Nepalese news and culture.

“The Northern Virginia area is served by other public media stations, including multiple PBS-member stations,” Commonwealth said in an FAQ, “and it was determined that there was no long-term strategic value for CPBC to maintain a continued over-the-air presence in Northern Virginia, especially given the opportunity to monetize the assets in order to strengthen our core mission to use the power of media to educate, entertain and inspire.”

The broadcaster will devote the proceeds to its remaining three TV and three radio stations in central Virginia, branded as the Community Idea Stations network. The broadcaster has launched a strategic planning process to establish a foundation with the proceeds.

[Yonnie3]

8. I knew the meaning of SK

or didididahdidah. Long time CW OP here.