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TheMetropolitan Television Alliance, LLC (MTVA) is a group organized in the wake of the loss of the transmission facilities atop theWorld Trade Center in 2001. Its mission is to identify, design and build a facility suitable for the long-term requirements of its member stations to meet their over-the-air digital broadcast requirements.[1] This included designing facilities for the newOne World Trade Center (then known as the Freedom Tower) inLower Manhattan, assessing alternative sites and technologies and dealing with local, state and federal authorities on relevant issues.[2]
The group, which includesGreater New York City area stationsWABC-TV,WCBS-TV,WFUT,WNBC,WNET,WNJU,WNYE-TV,WNYW,WPIX,WPXN-TV,WWOR-TV andWXTV, signed amemorandum of understanding in 2003 with the developer,Larry A. Silverstein, to install antennas atop One World Trade Center.
After the destruction of the broadcast equipment atop the World Trade Center during theSeptember 11 attacks, local television stations moved their main transmission operations to theEmpire State Building, which had served as a major broadcast site prior to the completion of the World Trade Center'sNorth Tower. Several stations, especiallylow powered broadcasters, also utilized facilities at4 Times Square, although to a more limited extent.[3] In 2006, control of the project was transferred to thePort Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The group received a grant from theNTIA to studydistributed transmission system (DTS) in New York City.[4] Multiple tests were run from various sites in the New York and Newark region in 2006 and 2007 by MTVA and individual member stations, with the use of distributed transmission on a permanent, non-experimental basis ultimately approved for US stations by theFederal Communications Commission on November 7, 2008.
Saul Shapiro served as president of the alliance from 2008 through 2012.[5]
