repacking of TV spectrum

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Even after yesterday’s deadline for filing ETRS Form Three in connection with the nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System back in October, there are two more deadlines coming next week that broadcasters should bear in mind.  As you prepare to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, don’t forget these FCC deadlines.  Most broadcasters have received plenty of notice about the December 1 deadline for Biennial Ownership Reports.  The FCC has been pushing for stations to fill these out completely and accurately by the deadline (see this reminder issued by the FCC just yesterday), as the Commission uses these reports to get a snapshot of who owns and controls what broadcast stations.  The reports also provide information about ownership diversity as they request information about the gender, race, and ethnicity of attributable owners.  The reports are required for all full-power stations (both commercial and noncommercial stations are covered) and for LPTV stations.  For more about the biennial ownership report filing requirement and the importance that the FCC puts on these reports, see our 2021 article here.

A deadline that has not received as much publicity is the November 29 deadline for users of the “13 GHz” spectrum to certify to the FCC that their systems are being used where licensed, or to file applications to modify the systems to accurately reflect their current use.  The spectrum, which includes operations from 12.7 to 13.25 GHz, is used by some broadcasters for Electronic News Gathering and for Studio Transmitter Links.  There may be other broadcast auxiliary uses beyond ENG and STLs that are also conducted in this band, so check your operations to see if a filing is required.Continue Reading Reminder: Deadlines Next Week for Biennial Ownership Reports and Filings to Preserve and Protect Broadcast Auxiliary Operations in the 12.7-13.25 GHz (13 GHz) Band

Here are some of the regulatory developments from the last week of significance to broadcasters, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

  • The National Association of Broadcasters this week announced that its CEO, Gordon Smith, will be stepping down at the end

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The Commission’s staff this week issued a Public Notice reminding broadcasters that  the reimbursement program for those broadcasters displaced by the repacking of the television band after the incentive auction is coming to an end.  The FCC reminded broadcasters eligible for reimbursement (including certain FM stations and LPTV licensees – see our article here ) that deadlines to submit invoices for reimbursement will start in six months.  By those deadlines, all remaining invoices for reimbursement from the TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund must be submitted to qualify for reimbursement.

While different deadlines apply to different categories of broadcasters eligible for reimbursement, the Commission “strongly encouraged” all broadcasters to submit all remaining invoices and initiate close-out procedures as early as possible.  The FCC notes in the Public Notice that payments up to the total amount of each entity’s allocation are available upon processing of documents reflecting reasonably incurred costs.  However, the FCC will not be able to make a final allocation up to the full amount of costs incurred until all or virtually all invoices for incurred costs are submitted, or at such time as the FCC can reasonably extrapolate that the total amounts available in the Relocation Fund will be sufficient to meet all of the costs that have to be covered under that program.
Continue Reading Closing Out the Incentive Auction and TV Repack – FCC Reminds Broadcasters of End Dates for Submitting Invoices for Repacking Expenses

A freeze on technical improvements by full-power TV stations is about to come to an end after more than 15 years. Television stations have been unable to improve their coverage areas by a freeze first instituted in 2004 to allow the FCC to deal with a stable database of television stations during the transition to digital operations.  After that, the freeze was soon reinstated to facilitate the incentive auction and subsequent repacking of the TV band into less spectrum so that TV channels above 37 could be auctioned for use for new wireless communications technologies.  The FCC’s Media Bureau yesterday issued a Public Notice announcing that it will finally lift the filing freeze – that thaw to be effective 15 days after the Public Notice is published in the Federal Register.

Specifically, the Bureau will lift the restrictions on the following types of applications:

  • Petitions for rulemaking to change channels in the DTV Table of Allotments (where a station moves from one channel to another) or petitions to swap channels between two existing stations.
  • Petitions for rulemaking for new DTV allotments which could give broadcasters the opportunity to apply for new TV stations.
  • Petitions for rulemaking to change communities of license.
  • Modification applications that increase a full power or Class A station’s service area beyond an area that is already served.

Continue Reading FCC to Lift Freeze on TV Station Technical Improvement Applications

Here are some of the FCC regulatory and legal actions of the last week—and congressional action in the coming week—of significance to broadcasters, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

  • The Media Bureau reminded broadcasters that July 13, 2021—the hard deadline

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Tuesday marked the end of the TV repacking following the TV incentive auction – shrinking the TV band by moving all TV stations to channels below what used to be Channel 37 (with a few exceptions for stations given a couple of extra months due to last minute COVID-19 delays, as discussed in the FCC decision here).  The FCC announced the end of the transition in a Press Release, and Chairman Pai delivered remarks on an American Consumer Institute webcast, thanking his staff for making the transition happen.  Remarkably, in the 15-year life of this blog, this is the second time that we have written about the shrinking of the TV band – the first following the transition of television from analog to digital over a decade ago (see, for instance the articles here and here from the 2009 digital transition).

That transition to digital is not complete, as we were reminded by another Public Notice released by the FCC on Monday.  This Public Notice emphasized to LPTV and TV translator operators, some of whom still have not transitioned to digital operations, that they have one more year to do so.  By the end of the day on July 13, 2021, all LPTV and TV translator stations need to be operating in digital or they need to cease operations.  The Public Notice reminds these operators who have construction permits for new digital facilities to extend those permits if they expire without construction completion before next year’s transition deadline – and alerts these operators to file by May 1, 2021 any last-minute modifications of the technical facilities specified in construction permits authorizing their digital transition.  Filing by May 1 gives the FCC sufficient time to process these applications so that any changes can be implemented by the July 13 deadline.
Continue Reading The Evolution of TV – The End of the Repack, a One-Year Reminder to the End of Analog LPTV, and the Start of the ATSC 3.0 Roll-Out

July is usually a month of family vacations and patriotic celebrations.  While the pandemic has seen to it that those activities, if they happen at all, will look different than they have in years past, there are plenty of regulatory obligations to fill a broadcaster’s long, summer days.  Here are a few of the dates and deadlines to watch for in July, and a quick reminder of some of the significant filings due right at the beginning of August.

On or before July 10, all TV and radio stations must upload to their public file their Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists for the 2nd quarter (April, May and June).  Stations that took advantage of the FCC’s extension of time to file their 1st quarter (January, February and March) list must also by July 10 upload that list to their public file.  As a reminder, the Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists are a station’s evidence of how it operated in the public interest, demonstrating its treatment of its community’s most significant issues.  The FCC has shown (see here and here) that it takes this requirement seriously and will fine stations, hold up license renewals, or both if it finds problems with a station’s compliance.  For a short video on complying with the Quarterly Issues/Programs List requirement, see here.
Continue Reading July Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters: End of the TV Repacking, Quarterly Issues/Programs Lists, Children’s Television Reporting, EEO, Carriage Election Public File Information Deadline, LPTV Settlement Window, Rulemaking Comments and More

Here are some of the legal and regulatory actions of the last week of significance to broadcasters, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

  • The FCC released a Second Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration regarding Next Gen TV (ATSC 3.0). The Report and Order provides guidance on how the Commission will evaluate petitions for waiver of the local simulcasting rules for broadcasters deploying ATSC 3.0 who cannot find a partner station to broadcast its signal in the current transmission standard, declines to allow broadcasters to use vacant in-band channels for voluntary ATSC 3.0 deployment, and clarifies that the “significantly viewed” status of an ATSC 3.0 station will not change when that station moves its ATSC 1.0 simulcast channel to a host facility.  The Order on Reconsideration denied petitions challenging aspects of the Commission’s 2017 Next Gen TV order, including issues dealing with the local simulcast requirement, the application of retransmission consent rules, patent licensing issues, and sunset of the obligation to use the current transmission standard for ATSC 3.0 (that sunset allowing the new transmission mode to evolve over time without the need for FCC action).  (Second Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration)
  • The Commission granted a waiver to a Jacksonville, Florida TV station, allowing it to complete its post-incentive auction move to a new channel by September 8, beyond the current July 3 end of Phase 10 of the repacking of the television band when all TV stations were to have moved to their post-transition facilities. Because of issues related to COVID-19 and other technical matters, the Commission granted this extension and authorized its Media Bureau to grant similar relief to other stations suffering from similar delays (Order)
  • Two members of Congress wrote a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai urging the Commission to “halt any increases to annual regulatory fees due in 2020 for broadcast licensees.” Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH) and Chris Stewart (R-UT) wrote in their letter that this action requires no congressional action and would help alleviate some of the economic hardship suffered by stations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Members noted that broadcasters are a critical component of the pandemic response by, among other things, informing and educating Americans about public health guidance.  (Letter).  The NAB, as well as a group of state broadcast associations, also filed comments at the FCC opposing the FCC’s proposal to increase broadcast regulatory fees, arguing that broadcasters’ fees should not increase in relation to the fees paid by other industries regulated by the FCC, particularly as broadcasters have been so hard hit by the economic fallout of the pandemic. (NAB Comments and State Association Comments)
  • Last Monday, the reply comment period closed in the FCC’s Significant Viewing proceeding. Designation as a significantly viewed station has implications for determining whether a cable or satellite TV system will carry a TV station in an area that is not part of its home market.  For an in-depth look at what the FCC seeks to resolve through this proceeding, see this post at the Broadcast Law Blog.  (Reply Comments)
  • On Tuesday, the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing considering the re-nomination of FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly to a new five-year term. The Commissioner, in response to a question, noted that he believes the FCC’s and DOJ’s current media competition rules are “problematic,” and that he hopes to work with DOJ to shift its narrow view of the competitive marketplace where it does not recognize that broadcasters  don’t just compete with other broadcasters, but instead directly compete with a wide range of other media companies, including digital media outlets.  (Opening Statement and Archived Video)(see Broadcast Law Blog articles here and here on the competition between broadcasters and other media and how the assessment of the definition of the marketplace is important to the evaluation of broadcast ownership limits)
  • The Enforcement Bureau acted last week against two pirate radio operations, one in Pennsylvania and one in Arkansas. These actions are reminders that broadcast operators must hold a valid license to operate and that the FCC will pursue illegal operations.
    • In the first case, the Enforcement Bureau shut down a station that was broadcasting on 90.7 MHz and 91.5 MHz from Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. The operator, as part of a consent decree, admitted to the unauthorized operation of the station, agreed to pay a $1,500 civil penalty, and agreed to not operate an unauthorized station in the future.  The PIRATE Act, signed into law in early 2020, gives the FCC authority to fine pirate radio operators up to $100,000 per violation (with a $2 million cap), but, in this case, the operator claimed an economic hardship, which persuaded the FCC to lower the fine to $1,500.  (Order and Consent Decree)
    • In the second case, the Enforcement Bureau issued a $10,000 fine to an operator for the unauthorized operation of a radio station on 103.1 MHz in Alma, Arkansas. (Forfeiture Order)
  • The US Court of Appeals upheld a lower court order throwing out a rule adopted by the Department of Health and Human Services that would have required all TV advertising for prescription drugs to state the wholesale price of the drug. Based on these court decisions, this additional information will not need to be added to the disclaimers that these ads already contain. (Court Decision)(Broadcast Law Blog article on the decision)

Continue Reading This Week at the FCC for Broadcasters: June 13, 2020 to June 19, 2020

LPTV and TV translator licensees and applicants saw two notices from the FCC yesterday dealing with fall-out from the FCC’s incentive auction and the subsequent repacking of TV stations into a smaller part of the broadcast spectrum.  The first notice announced a settlement window that runs through July 31 for applicants for new or modified LPTV stations or translators that had filed for new channels or new technical facilities because use of their old channels were preempted by the repacking – either because those channels were no longer part of the TV band or because the channels were to be used by some full-power station that was itself repacked.  These applications have been pending since an LPTV/TV translator filing window in 2009, and were allowed to amend their applications to address issues caused by the repacking earlier this year.  As, in some cases, more than one applicant applied for the same new channel in the same area, those applicants whose displacement applications ended up being mutually exclusive can file to make engineering changes to their applications (including, if no other solutions are possible, changing channels yet again) or to reach other settlements (including channel sharing) to resolve their conflicts.  So if your displacement application was on the list of mutually exclusive applications, look to see if you can resolve your issues and file for the necessary FCC approvals by the July 31 deadline.

In addition, LPTV stations and TV translators using channels 38, 44, 45 and 46 were reminded by the FCC in another Public Notice that they need to vacate these channels by July 13.  The FCC notes that this is a hard deadline that cannot be waived – so stations operating on these channels must either move to a new channel (getting FCC approval for such a move if they have not already received such approval) or cease operations (and ask for authority to remain silent until they have been able to move to another channel) by the July 31 deadline so that the spectrum is freed up as part of its being repurposed for wireless uses.
Continue Reading LPTV and TV Translators – Settlement Window for Mutually Exclusive Applications and Reminder on Deadline for Vacating Certain Channels

The repacking of the TV band following the incentive auction is reaching its end – but perhaps not as quickly as anticipated.  Yesterday, the FCC issued “Guidance” to stations in Phase 9 of the repacking indicating that they can request extensions so that their deadline for implementing any repacking obligation would be the…