TV Marti Can Continue to Operate on Channel 13 Until January 2009

By Doug Lung
published

The FCC this week issued an order allowing TV Marti to continue operating on channel 13 until Jan. 24, 2009.

In 2004, the FCC adopted a Modification Order allowing the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which took over TV Marti from the US Information Agency, to use channel 13 for TV Marti facilities broadcasting television programming to Cuba with technical parameters “at variance from those that the Commission previously authorized.” On June 2, the FCC released a Memorandum Opinion and Order (DA 08-1290) extending the authorization until Jan. 24, 2009.

The commission is allowing TV Marti to continue broadcasting on channel 13 as long as it doesn’t interfere with other signals. “Such operations must cease,” the FCC said, “if the Commission determines that they are causing harmful interference to any lawfully operating Commission licensee.”

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.