FCC Announces Auction for LPTV, Class A, Translator Digital Permits

By Doug Lung
published

The FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Media Bureau announced last week an auction of LPTV and TV translator digital companion channels has been scheduled for Nov. 5, 2008.

In the Public Notice (DA 08-460), the FCC warned participants that conditions may have changed due to LPTV displacement applications and the lifting of the freeze on DTV maximization and channel change applicatons, limiting what they can do on the channels being auctioned. I found one auction for a channel that is clearly no longer available in the market. The FCC does not allow channel changes to resolve mutually exclusive applications and it isn’t clear if a winner of an auction for a channel that is no longer available would be able to file an application for a displacement channel.

The FCC Auction 85 Web page has links to additional information on the auction, including FCC releases.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.