Like the Muppet characters on PBS' "Sesame Street," WQED executives are working their way through the alphabet as they attempt to sell or lease sister station WQEX. Plans A, B and C fell apart, but the latest effort, Plan D, was approved by the station's board of directors yesterday.

The contents of Plan D, however, were not revealed.

"We haven't signed anything yet. We're still negotiating," said WQED President George Miles. "But the board has given me authorization to move forward."

The board met in executive session, closed to the public and press, prior to its open meeting, citing a confidentiality agreement with the prospective buyer or lessee.

"Our goal was clearly not to do anything with a religious broadcaster or another nonprofit," Miles said. "It's complicated and it's complex and we've still got a number of issues that are open."

He said the new deal does not involve Diane Sutter's ShootingStar Broadcasting, which was the focal point of Plan C.

He would not comment on whether the other party is a home shopping channel. Last summer, Miles said he had three prospective buyers, none of them religious broadcasters or home shopping channels.

WQEX, which currently simulcasts WQED programming on Channel 16, has been operating on low power and has been on and off the air in recent weeks due to ongoing repairs. It's expected that Channel 16 will be at full power by May 1.

Miles said viewers might see different programming on WQEX by then, which would indicate a lease of some sort. A sale would require more time to gain approval of the Federal Communications Commission.

An announcement about the dispensation of WQEX will likely wait until after the celebration of the 50th anniversary of WQED at the Elsie Awards Thursday.

WQED has been trying to unload WQEX since 1996 and has been simulcasting WQED on WQEX since November 1997.

The FCC initially rejected WQED's request to convert WQEX's license from non-commercial/educational to commercial in 1996. Plan B involved a three-way swap with Paxson Communications and Cornerstone TeleVision. The FCC approved that deal, but it collapsed in January 2000.

WQED again proposed converting the WQEX license to commercial as part of Plan C, which the FCC approved in July 2002. Plan C, involving Sutter, collapsed in November 2002.