The FCC has released a list of mutually exclusive applications for LPTV and TV translator digital companion channels. Most of the conflicts involve applications from only two or three stations, although group number MX004 in the Tampa, Fla. area has four stations involved, all requesting Channel 23. In south Florida, five applicants filed for Channel 3 (Group MX040). In a daisy chain of conflicts similar to some of those in earlier analog LPTV auctions, six stations filed for Channel 10 in an area stretching from Banning, Calif., east of Los Angeles, to Santa Barbara, Calif., north of Los Angeles (Group MX060).
Group number MX024 has four stations involved, but they are all on adjacent Channels 31-34, so it should be possible to eliminate interference between stations by co-locating the four transmitters. There are similar large groups of conflicts elsewhere in Utah and in some other states (i.e. MX142 in Granite Falls, Minn.) that should be resolved through system engineering. Many of the conflicts are between stations that are commonly owned and are likely the outcome of efficient spectrum management rather than competition for limited spectrum.
Applicants with conflicting applications will have until Dec. 15, "to enter into settlement agreements or otherwise resolve their mutual exclusivities by engineering solutions."
Some of the applicants in Group MX128 shouldn't have any difficulty coming up with an engineering solution. Obviously a mistake, this group combined two applicants in the Ventura/Santa Barbara area of California requesting Channel 30 with three stations requesting adjacent Channel 29--in Atlanta!
Refer to Public Notice DA 06-2034, for additional information on the settlement period. The FCC Auction 85 Filing Window LPTV Releases Web page has links to earlier Public Notices on digital companion channel filings.
