WPTZ-TV plans to vacate its crowded digs in Colchester for a new studio
in South Burlington, the NBC affiliate announced Tuesday.
The station’s Plattsburgh bureau will stay open, but the technical hub located there now will move to the new location in the Technology Park at 30 Community Drive in South Burlington. The move will happen by next spring.
The station, known as NBC5, also announced that it will open a new bureau in Lebanon, N.H., and close the one it currently runs on the Vermont side of the Connecticut River in White River Junction.
The station’s workforce of roughly 90 employees in New York and Vermont won’t change in size. But some jobs will move from New York to Vermont, said Justin Antoniotti, president and general manager of WPTZ and WNNE, which serves the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire.
“We do anticipate some of the technical positions will move to the new location in South Burlington,” Antoniotti told Seven Days.
The moves signal a desire for more space and better reach into all corners of the two stations’ three-state market, he added.
The station will maintain its longstanding presence and coverage in upstate New York, according to Antoniotti. The New Hampshire bureau will cover the same areas now being covered by the White River office. “We really remain committed to covering the entire market,” Antoniotti said.
After a long search, the Hearst-owned station announced the plans to employees Tuesday morning. Antoniotti said he’d looked at dozens of locations before opting for the South Burlington site.
“We’ve simply outgrown the Colchester location,” he said about the office on Roosevelt Highway. “We’ve been there since 1985 and we need more space.”
The company had considered a site on Marshall Avenue in Williston earlier this year and, through a real estate company, had proposed a new building with multiple satellite dishes and an 80-foot tower.
But after the town development review board imposed a number of conditions during the preliminary review phase, the project developers did not return for a full review, according to Williston director of planning and zoning Ken Belliveau.
WPTZ must also go through a review process in South Burlington. It’s unclear how intensive that will be. No application had yet been filed, South Burlington administrative officer Ray Belair said Tuesday.
The Technology Park property is zoned to allow TV or radio use, but it’s likely the project will need to seek either an administrative approval or development review board permission, Belair said.
“It all depends on what it is they are proposing,” he added.
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RE: The station will maintain its longstanding presence and coverage in upstate New York
For New York news I watch the other stations In the region.
But it’s sad for us in lower vermont, to think we have no other stations to bring us news or emergency broadcast, we have nothing and to think a station can be bought out for 50 mil and we have to pay for cable television is wrong. In there story they say it’s all about customers and there adds reaching more people. As far as I’m concerned there should be a law against it and a class action law suite. We only had wptz and PBS and for them to totally shut down the tower is wrong. Being a disabled vet I cant afford the comforts of cable, where I live no cell service either so as for emergencies we are screwed. Its wrong. And our government shouldn’t of allowed it. Or spectrum should give free local channels with out a box for low cost connection. Being a disabled vet I cant afford more Bill’s. And being that I’m in my bed mostly my free TV was one thing I had now nothing.
Will this move require Hearst Television to petition the FCC to change WPTZ’s city of license from Plattsburgh to South Burlington? Given that the station is moving not only its news operation but also its primary technical center to South Burlington, I would think that such a change in WPTZ’s license would be necessary.
I also noticed that WPTZ’s new digs are at 30 Technology Drive — the same building that houses the corporate headquarters of Ben & Jerry’s. I can imagine the station’s employee lounge at the new facility will be well-stocked with B&J’s ice cream!