Stephens County receives push back from Greenville Stations after uploading FCC application

Stephens County is receiving push back from the Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville Stations, after uploading its application and petition to the Federal Communications Commission.

According to Stephens County Administrator Phyllis Ayers the Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville Stations have submitted their own petitions asking the FCC to deny the county’s request.

“We’ve submitted and uploaded our application to the FCC’s website. We haven’t received word from the FCC about their decision on our requests yet. But we do know that the Greenville Stations have submitted an appeal against us,” she said.

Ayers told WNEG News recently that the FCC has yet to decide if they will accept or deny Stephens County’s request.

Stephens, Franklin, Hart and Elbert counties are all considered orphan counties because their citizens with satellite service are not receiving Georgia local news, weather, or sports from their home state TV stations.

She explained that Stephens County along with the other 3 counties have worked together; however, each one had to submit its own application and petition.

Along with Stephens, both Franklin and Hart counties have submitted their petitions to the FCC, but, in October the FCC ruled that satellite TV customers in both Franklin and Hart counties could receive TV stations in Georgia rather than from the Carolinas.

But, similar to what Stephens County is experiencing now, the Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville Stations filed appeals against Franklin and Hart counties, requesting the FCC reconsider the counties’ petitions.

If the FCC rules in favor of Stephens County, it still does not mean that the satellite TV providers will immediately move their orphan county customers back under the state in which they live, because it still involves numerous steps that will take additional time to complete.

WNEG News will continue to follow this story as additional information is released.