WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau has issued a Public Notice that it has automatically modified the call signs of some TV translator stations to bring them into compliance with recently adopted rule changes.
On December 19, 2025, the Commission adopted a change to the TV translator call sign rule, requiring that TV translator station call signs “be made up of a prefix consisting of the initial letter K or W followed by the channel number assigned to the station and two additional letters and a suffix consisting of the letter `–D'.”
At the time, the FCC stated that it would “automatically modify” non-compliant TV translator call signs to align with the proper convention thirty days after the effective date of the revised rule. The rule change became effective on February 23, 2026, the FCC reported.
Article continues belowThe FCC said that the amended rule did not contain new or modified information collection requirements and did not require approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 prior to becoming effective.
The FCC is now reporting that the process of modifying non-compliant TV translator call signs is complete. In a March 11 Notice, the agency said that some stations with non-compliant call signs elected to modify their service designation from TV translator to LPTV instead of having their call sign modified and that those stations are not listed in the Appendix of the Notice detailing the call sign changes.
While the Commission awaits final OMB approval of its revised “change in service designation” rule (e.g., TV translator to LPTV and vice-versa), the FCC also noted that stations may submit such requests by sending a letter by e-mail to Kevin.Harding@fcc.gov.
The FCC stressed that stations that change service designation must comply with all Commission rules applicable to their new class of service as of the date of the change in designation–including but not limited to the Commission’s rules related to emergency alerting. “Each Station’s license and any active construction permit or other authorization has been re-issued with the new call sign,” the FCC Notice explained. “The Stations are also reminded to update the call sign that is transmitted in their on-air station identification.”
The FCC said that stations needing additional information should contact Shaun Maher, Video Division, Media Bureau, at Shaun.Maher@fcc.gov or (202) 418-2324 (legal); or Kevin Harding, Video Division, Media Bureau, at Kevin.Harding@fcc.gov or (202) 418-7077 (technical).
Additional analysis of the rule changes can be found at the Broadcast Law Blog here.
The Notice and a full list of the translator stations that were automatically modified is available here.
