Hearst Chooses GatesAir Gear For Repack

Hearst Television has signed an agreement with GatesAir to purchase broadband transmitters and installation services from GatesAir, as well as complete site audits in advance of purchasing and installation. The deal covers multiple Hearst stations affected by the TV spectrum repack.

Based on each site’s specific requirements, Hearst Television will acquire Maxiva ULXTE liquid-cooled and/or Maxiva UAXTE air-cooled high-efficiency transmitters. All will integrate GatesAir’s new ATSC 3.0-ready Maxiva XTE exciter,including the latest generation of GatesAir RTAC software, which provides real-time adaptive correction.

All Maxiva transmitters incorporate GatesAir’s high-efficiency PowerSmart Plus technology to reduce size, weight and power consumption while streaming maintenance.

GatesAir and Hearst Television have completed detailed working plans in support of channel reassignments at each station. All information gathered following station site audits was immediately transferred to engineers at GatesAir’s Quincy, Ill., manufacturing base.

According to Martin Faubell, Hearst TV VP of engineering, Hearst Television,  “GatesAir has been a long-time partner of Hearst Television, and as we did for the DTV transition, we will once again count on them to provide transmitters and installations for our group of stations participating in the Spectrum Repack. We value their commitment and experience to enable us to hit our marks over the next 32 months.” 

Joe Mack, GatesAir VP of sales, Americas, said: “Our extensive manufacturing and service operation leaves us uniquely prepared to accommodate Hearst Television with the industry’s most comprehensive repack solution across evaluation, equipment and engineering services, including accelerated delivery, installation and commissioning timelines. We are thankful for Hearst Television’s business and look forward to helping them relocate to new channel assignments without disruption to their over-the-air services.”