If they transmitted near the same power on VHF as allowed on UHF there would probably be no problem other than co-channel interference from distant stations.
We have Ch 8 WFAA here on RF 8, and KFWD 52 on RF 9. WFAA is the ABC affiliate, been on the air here since 1950. They transmit an ERP of 37.9 kW. At a distance of about 27 miles I receive the VHFs just as strong, 95-100% signal quality as the UHFs. I am using a 30+ year old RadioShack (Antenna Craft) TV antenna that has good VHF gain, unlike a lot of the newer antennas that all but ignore VHF. The The local Fox affiliate, KDFW 4 transmits on RF 35 with an ERP of 153 kW. The differences in power allowed may well have something to do with the reception issues some people have. Then there are the so-called "digital" antennas that have no or very little reception of VHF.
Anyway they are supposed to move more stations down to VHF with the repacking. We have at least one here, KHPK-LD 28 that has moved to RF 10.
I do know that for some odd reason Dish network is suddenly promoting OTA TV by offering to remove the local channels from the Dish subscription with a $10 a mo savings, and will even send a technician out and install a new TV antenna, FREE! I have no idea why or what they are up to but they must think there's a good future for OTA TV, unlike in 2009 when there was a sudden "spectrum shortage" and some were talking about OTA just going away because the RF spectrum was too valuable to give away.
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