The FCC on Friday issued a Public Notice announcing that LPTV stations and TV translators displaced by the Incentive auction and repacking of the TV band will have an opportunity to file for replacement channels for the ones on which they currently operate in a window that will run from April 10 through May 15.  This is for LPTV and TV translator stations that operated on channels above channel 37, which will no longer be part of the TV band after the post-Incentive auction repacking of TV stations is complete. Also filing will be LPTV stations and TV translators that operate on channels in the core TV band on which full-power stations have been relocated as part of the post-auction repacking. Stations planning to file in this window also need to take into account improvement applications filed by full-power stations in the windows held during the latter part of 2017 (see our articles here and here on those windows). The Public Notice offers access to an FCC tool that will help LPTV and translator station operators locate available channels in the area in which they operate.

The Public Notice for the most part simply announces the dates, as the FCC had promised 60 days prior notice of the opening of the window.  The procedures to be followed during the window were set out in a Public Notice released last May, which we summarized here. So if you operate translators or LPTV stations which were precluded by the repacking, start preparing now for the window.