No HD SuperBowl Broadcast in NW Oklahoma

FCC glitch blacks out HD Super Bowl for viewers in Oklahoma
Feb 8, 2008 8:17 AM

Football fans in northwest Oklahoma got their first taste of the untested interference issues surrounding the DTV transition over Super Bowl weekend.

The FCC had allowed KOMI-TV, an independent station in Woodward, OK, to increase the power of its signal. However, KOMI’s new signal strength meant that residents from the towns of Alva to Elk City could no longer see the digital/HD signal for rival station KOKH-TV. Instead, they now see KOMI’s programming.

This wouldn’t be such a big deal if KOKH weren’t the Fox affiliate in Oklahoma City and thus the only station in the northwest Oklahoma market with the rights to broadcast the Super Bowl in HDTV.Cable and off-air antenna viewers in a large portion of northwest Oklahoma were not able to see the game in HD, though the analog signal was still available.