McKinnon Broadcasting filed recently to construct new low power digital TV transmitters in three Southern California markets new to the station.

The applications include a 15kW channel 40 in El Centro, a 2kW channel 44 serving Santa Barbara, and a 5kW channel 26 serving Palm Springs.

FCC records show that two other groups have applied for channel 44 in Santa Barbara, and the FCC granted Gulf-California group in 2007 a construction permit for KCWQ-LD on channel 26 in Palm Springs.

KUSI already operates a channel 12 translator, K12PO, serving the Temecula area of Riverside County. They have an application to upgrade the site to digital.

Director of Engineering Richard Large said, “With the FCC opening up a window to file for Digital LPTV and translators, [the filing] was a new opportunity to expand our KUSINEWS coverage.”