After President Bush signed the "Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act", also known as the analog "nightlight" bill, the FCC moved quickly to issue a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (FCC 08-281) along with a list of stations eligible for the analog nightlight program and a list of DMAs with stations initially eligible for nightlight participation. The FCC allowed a five-day comment period after publication in the Federal Register with an additional three days for reply comments.
The proposed rules closely follow those outlined in the Bill. "Nightlight" stations are not allowed to program anything other than emergency announcements and DTV transition information on their analog channels after Feb. 17. The FCC asked for comments on exactly what programming should be allowed. Note that the DTV transition information and emergency information must made available to people with disabilities (closed or open captioned) and must be presented in both English and Spanish.
The NPRM includes a table showing the spacing requirements for the analog stations eligible to be "nightlights" and, as an attachment, a list of stations meeting those requirements. Stations not listed as initially eligible can use the engineering STA process to "explain how they could operate without causing harmful interference to nearby digital station(s)."
According to the FCC, "Such explanations may consist of analyses using the methods in OET-69 or other recognized methodologies for evaluating TV station interference."
