The FCC has released a Public Notice reminding TV stations to update their FCC Form 387 DTV Transition Status Reports.  If you will recall, these are the Reports filed by each station in February of this year outlining the steps remaining for the station to complete the transition to DTV.  Stations are under an obligation to update that status report as circumstances warrant, and also by October 20, 2008.

Now, however, the FCC needs to prepare a status report of its own, so it has requested that all stations update their Form 387 by no later than July 18, 2008, which is next Friday.  The Public Notice states that:  “Stations should report any significant changes to the information contained in their original DTV Transition Status Reports including a change in the station’s (1) transition plans, (2) construction or operational status or (3) existing service (e.g., reduction or termination of analog or pre-transition digital service). In addition, stations should report if they have filed (1) an application for extension of time; (2) an application for digital construction permit; (3) a request to reduce or terminate analog or digital operations; and/or (4) a petition for rulemaking to change their post-transition DTV channel.”   A copy of the complete Public Notice is available here. 

Accordingly, stations will need to review the status of their DTV transition and their plans for between now and February 17, 2009, and update the Form 387 by Friday, July 17th.  At the very least, stations migrating back to their current analog channel or else flash-cutting to digital on their current analog channel will need to reflect the fact that they have now obtained a construction permit authorizing that modification of the station’s facilities .  Alternatively, for those few stations that have nothing new to report, there’s no need to file anything.