The FCC made public May 18 a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) as part of its third review of the DTV transition, taking steps to complete the transition to digital television.
The NPRM, adopted April 25, proposes deadlines and procedures to ensure that broadcasters complete construction of their post-transition, digital facilities by the statutory deadline so that service to viewers is not disrupted.
Among the proposed steps are:
- restricting the grant of future extensions of time to construct digital facilities;
- offering expedited processing to stations applying for a construction permit for their post-transition channel based on the new DTV Table of Allotments;
- examining the circumstances in which stations may reduce or terminate analog service to facilitate construction of post-transition facilities;
- permitting stations that have different pre-transition and post-transition channels to devote their resources to building their post-transition channel;
- requiring stations by Dec. 1, 2007, to file a form with the commission detailing the current status of the station’s digital transition, the additional steps the station must take before the transition deadline, and a plan for how the station intends to meet the deadline; and
- establishing Feb. 17, 2009, as the construction deadline for stations with new channel allotments in the upcoming new DTV Table of Allotments.
For more information, visit: www.fcc.gov.
