By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — If you watch television over the air in the Hutchinson-Wichita TV market, you'll need to rescan your television to get all of your channels.
"It's just going to apply to viewers who watch TV with an antenna either on their roof or indoors," said Jean Kiddoo, Chair of the Incentive Auction Task Force at the Federal Communications Commission. "Not cable and satellite subscribers. If a viewer has an antenna and watches over the air TV for free, they'll need to rescan when the local Wichita-Hutchinson station changes frequencies in a couple of weeks."
This will change the frequency for KSNW, Channel 3 and its subchannels.
"Channel 3 has a couple of subchannels that they broadcast over, one of which is Telemundo, which is a Spanish-language station," Kiddoo said. "I think there's an Ion station on their subchannel and also a Justice station. I think there are actually four channels of programming that are effected by this change."
Additional use of spectrum for new internet technology has prompted the change.
"We're doing it in order to make room for additional frequencies for wireless services," Kiddoo said. "Consumers are looking for more and more wireless speeds and capacity on their mobile devices, so we're rearranging the broadcast frequencies so we can make up some space for that."
Most viewers don’t need any new devices, equipment, or services to rescan their TV. The FCC has posted an instructional video showing viewers how to rescan their TV and information for consumers and the press about the rescan process. It is available at www.fcc.gov/TVrescan or you can call the consumer help line at 1-888-CALLFCC (1-888-225-5322) and press “6” to speak with a dedicated help desk representative.