Bringing LPTV Back to Life

We purchased the broadcast license for WSCG-TV in Savannah GA from FCC bankruptcy court in 2017. Our original plan was to operate the business as a conventional tv station, but we found better success in building out the station and selling it. 

Following this model, we acquired the low power (LPTV) licenses for Beaufort, Savannah, Charleston and Myrtle Beach, and Dover, Delaware. We built out the stations and sold them in 2020 and found a niche business in the television industry. Our new business model is to find and develop under-performing assets (LPTV licenses and Construction Permits), and to provide engineering support and equipment for other broadcasters.

Our extensive network of high-level contacts within the broadcast community is a unique contributor to our success. 

Dielectric Backs LPTV Expansion Wave Following FCC Rule Changes

Dielectric, a provider of antennas and RF systems, is supporting a surge in low-power television expansion after the FCC’s first major LPTV rule revisions in more than 40 years, opening opportunities to relocate facilities, resolve interference and expand service coverage across the U.S.

Jeffrey Winemiller, owner of Lowcountry 34 Media, has filed more than 250 applications to modify and grow LPTV station footprints and is using Dielectric antennas, filters and RF systems for many deployments.

“These rule changes have completely transformed what’s possible for low-power TV,” Winemiller said. “We’ve gone from serving small, rural populations to potentially reaching hundreds of millions of viewers. Dielectric’s antennas and RF systems give us the flexibility to solve interference challenges, combine signals efficiently and build cost-effective transmission sites quickly.”

The FCC’s updated framework allows operators to move stations closer to population centers and resolve MX interference through antenna pattern optimization, channel changes or cooperative agreements. The shift has spurred thousands of filings in recent application windows. Winemiller expects to build more than 200 stations over the coming years, potentially reaching up to 300 million viewers nationwide.

Dielectric’s DLP and TLP low-power antenna platforms, along with RF filters and combiners, are central to these builds, enabling directional patterns to mitigate interference, combining multiple channels into a single transmission line and antenna, reducing tower and infrastructure costs, and adapting quickly to evolving FCC requirements and site constraints.

“Low-power broadcasters need flexible, economical solutions that can scale with rapid regulatory and market changes,” said Cory Edwards, OEM, distributor and Southeast Asia sales director at Dielectric. “Our DLP and TLP antenna systems, along with our RF filters and combiners, are designed to help operators like Jeff maximize coverage while managing cost and complexity.”

LPTV systems typically operate at lower power on smaller structures such as cellular towers, requiring compact, efficient RF infrastructure. Dielectric says its engineering can tailor antenna patterns to meet FCC requirements while optimizing coverage in crowded spectrum environments.