The FCC has finally come to the rescue of those of you who haven't succumbed to the Comcast cable juggernaut San Jose's Channel 11 has been given approval to build a new transmitter in San Bruno, so NBC will be making a victorious return to your broadcast dial. The cable-free will no longer need to beg people to tape the new seasons of the West Wing, Law and Order, and the Apprentice! (You didn't miss much on the Friends finale, by the way.)
Channel 11's request was protested both by Foxs Channel 2 and the beleaguered KRON Channel 4. You may remember back in 2001 that KRON played a dangerous game of chicken with NBC over renewing their previous affiliation, and KRON lost -- which is why its always the local news and Dr. Phil on channel 4 now, and why non-cable subscribing San Franciscans dont have a local NBC affiliate in the first place. KRON should just give up on ever getting that affiliation back and make itself into San Franciscos New York One, the all New York news channel. (As an aside, SFist has always loved the reductive beauty of the New York One tagline: "New York One, the only one, because theres only one New York").
Alas, for those of you looking to free yourselves from Comcast dependency, the new antenna will not be transmitting for another six months, so you still wont be able to watch the Olympics. If you really need to get cable, SFist highly recommends RCN, which has better channels, better rates, and can provide phone and internet connections too.
