WASHINGTON—During its December open meeting, the Federal Communications Commission voted to adopt rules for Low Power TV, TV Translator and Class A (LPTV Service) broadcasters that the agency will give them additional regulatory clarity in how they use their licenses.
The updates are designed to reflect the changes in the broadcast industry since the LPTV Service was established more than forty years ago and to strengthen LPTV Service broadcasters’ ability to compete in local media markets.
The Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the updates in a Report & Order called “Amendment of the Commission’s Rules to Advance the LPTV, TV Translator and Class A Television Service”, MB Docket No. 24-148.
In a statement on the Report & Order, FCC Chair Brendan Carr noted that in 1982, the Commission created LPTV Service to bring local television to viewers who were “otherwise unserved or underserved” by full power television broadcasters.
While those stations are now an established component of the nation’s television system, delivering free, over-the-air, including locally produced programming, to millions of viewers in both rural and urban communities, “our LPTV Service rules have not been updated to keep pace with industry realities or to address regulatory uncertainties where they exist,” Carr said.
To address that, he said “today’s action modernizes the LPTV regulatory framework so licensees can make informed business decisions about their station operations, while ensuring the American people continue to benefit from their services. Among the actions taken to achieve this goal, the item streamlines and formalizes regulatory processes, takes steps to preserve existing and promote new service, establishes a level playing field by eliminating inconsistencies within our rules, and provides certainty for licensees by establishing clear rules of the road.”
“The rules we adopt will ensure that the LPTV Service continues to flourish and serve the public interest well into the future,” he concluded. “I look forward to seeing the positive results of this action and continuing to monitor the steps that broadcasters take to address the needs of local communities across the nation.”
The FCC described the specific features of the Report and Order as follows:
- Updates how relocation distances are calculated for displaced and channel sharing LPTV/TV translators stations.
- Establishes a uniform maximum relocation distance for all minor modification applications.
- Establishes a formal method for LPTV Service stations to specify a community of license.
- Requires stations in the LPTV Service to utilize a call sign that matches their service designation (existing LPTV/Class A call signs are grandfathered).
- Establishes a formal process for LPTV Service stations to change their service designation.
- Clarifies what EAS equipment must be installed by LPTV stations.
- Clarifies the video program responsibilities of LPTV/TV translators.
- Revises and expands the displacement rule to clearly enumerate the circumstances that qualify LPTV/TV translator stations for displacement and eliminate the displacement public notice period.
- Updates technical rules to help prevent interference.
- Removes obsolete rules.
- Permits LPTV/TV translator channel sharing stations to apply for their own channels.
- Declines to adopt new LPTV minimum operating hours; limit community of license changes; restrict service designation changes; or limit applicants' ability to round distance calculations.
More information is available here.
