§ 73.674 - Digital television transition notices by broadcasters.

§ 73.674 Digital television transition notices by broadcasters.

(a) Each full-power commercial and noncommercial educational television broadcast station licensee or permittee must air an educational campaign about the transition from analog broadcasting to digital television (DTV). For each such commercial station, a licensee or permittee must elect by March 27, 2008, to comply with either paragraph (c) or (d) of this section. For each such noncommercial station, a licensee or permittee must elect, by March 27, 2008, to comply with paragraph (c), (d), or (e) of this section. A licensee or permittee must note their election via the filing of Form 388 as required by §§ 73.3526 and 73.3527.

(b) The following requirements apply to paragraphs (c), (d), and (e) of this section:

(1) The station must comply with the requirements of the paragraph it elects with respect to its analog channel and its primary digital stream.

(2) Any Public Service Announcement aired to comply with these requirements must be closed-captioned, notwithstanding § 79.1(d)(6) of this chapter.

(3) The campaign must begin no later than March 27, 2008, and continue at least through the station's termination of analog service, not later than June 12, 2009, except for stations subject to the provisions of paragraph (b)(4) of this section.

(4) Any station that has filed a request for an extension of the deadline for construction of its full, authorized post-transition digital facility, including a request for phased transition pursuant to the Third DTV Periodic Report and Order in MB Docket 07-91, or is operating under such an extension, must continue its DTV consumer education campaign until the station completes construction of its full, authorized post-transition digital facility. After the station terminates analog service, it must continue to comply with the requirements of the Consumer Education Campaign Option that it has elected, except that the content of all on-air education must be revised to provide information about the station's limited digital service area and the anticipated date for it to complete construction and commence operation of its full, authorized post-transition digital facility.

(5) Service loss notices - Beginning April 1, 2009, if the FCC's Signal Loss Report, available on http://www.dtv.gov, predicts that 2 percent or more of the population in a station's Grade B analog service contour will not receive the station's digital signal, the station must air service loss notices, as provided in this paragraph.

(i) Service loss notices may be no fewer than 30 seconds long, and must be aired at least once per day, between 8 a.m. and 11:35 p.m. At least three service loss notices per week must air between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. in the Atlantic, Eastern and Pacific time zones, and between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. in the Mountain, Central, and Alaskan time zones.

(ii) Service loss notices are in addition to the other obligations imposed by this section.

(iii) The service loss notices must include the FCC's Call Center number, 1-888-CALL-FCC, the FCC's TTY number, 1-888-TELL-FCC, and the Web site address for the FCC's online digital reception mapping tool, http://www.DTV.gov/maps.

(iv) The station must post service loss information on its Web site home page, including a link to the relevant coverage change maps on http://www.DTV.gov and the FCC's online digital reception mapping tool, http://www.DTV.gov/maps. This information must remain available on the station's Web site home page for at least 30 days after the station terminates its analog service, notwithstanding the termination of other consumer education requirements.

(v) The loss areas disclosed in the service loss notices must be based on the FCC's Signal Loss Report.

(vi) Service loss notices must disclose that some current viewers of the station's analog signal are predicted to experience a loss of service and describe the discrete geographic areas where there is likely to be a service loss.

(vii) If any predicted service loss is attributable to a change in the station's frequency from VHF to UHF, and the predicted losses cannot entirely be described with respect to discrete geographic areas, the station must, at a minimum, disclose that some analog viewers located in areas obstructed by hills or buildings are predicted to be unable to receive the station's digital signal. This is in addition to, and not in lieu of, descriptions of any discrete geographic areas where there is likely to be a service loss.

(6) Antenna information notices - Beginning April 1, 2009, all stations must include information about the use of antennas as part of their consumer education campaign, as provided in this paragraph.

(i) The antenna information notices should provide information about the types of antennas that their viewers may need, and how to install them.

(ii) Stations that have changed or are changing the frequency band in which they broadcast must inform their viewers of the change in frequencies and explain how the change affects the antenna they need to receive their signal.

(iii) Stations that are predicted by the FCC's Signal Loss Report to have any loss of viewers should consider whether their viewers can improve their ability to receive their signal by obtaining a different or better antenna, and if so, provide information concerning such antennas.

(iv) Antenna information notices must be no fewer than 15 seconds long, and must be aired at least once per day, between 8 a.m. and 11:35 p.m. At least three antenna information notices per week must air between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. in the Atlantic, Eastern and Pacific time zones, and between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. in the Mountain, Central, and Alaskan time zones.

(v) Antenna information notices may be included as part of a station's DTV Consumer Education Initiative efforts, or may be discussed for at least 15 seconds during news programs, or broadcast in other ways that the station determines will be most helpful to consumers.

(vi) Notwithstanding the content requirements of paragraph (c) of this section, a licensee or permittee electing compliance with paragraph (c) of this section may replace up to 25 percent of their daily PSAs and crawls with antenna notices.

(7) Rescanning notices - Beginning April 1, 2009, all stations must include information in their consumer education campaigns to inform and remind viewers about the importance of periodically using the rescan function of their digital televisions and digital converter boxes, as provided in this paragraph.

(i) Rescanning notices should explain why rescanning is important in general and, in particular, if the station is changing channels or signal direction.

(ii) Rescanning notices must be no fewer than 15 seconds long, and must be aired at least once per day, between 8 a.m. and 11:35 p.m. At least three rescanning notices per week must air between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. in the Atlantic, Eastern and Pacific time zones, and between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. in the Mountain, Central, and Alaskan time zones.

(iii) Rescanning notices may be included as part of a station's DTV Consumer Education Initiative efforts, or may be discussed for at least 15 seconds during news programs, or broadcast in other ways that the station determines will be most helpful to consumers.

(iv) Notwithstanding the content requirements of paragraph (c) of this section, a licensee or permittee electing compliance with paragraph (c) of this section may replace up to 25 percent of their daily PSAs and crawls with rescanning notices.

(8) Help center notices - Beginning April 1, 2009, as part of its DTV consumer education campaign, every station must air notices providing the location and operating hours of walk-in DTV help centers in the station's market area; the FCC Call Center telephone number and TTY number; and the station's telephone number for receiving consumer referrals and calls from local viewers, as provided in this paragraph.

(i) Help center notices must be no fewer than 15 seconds long, and must be aired at least once per day, between 8 a.m. and 11:35 p.m. At least three help center notices per week must air between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. in the Atlantic, Eastern and Pacific time zones, and between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. in the Mountain, Central, and Alaskan time zones.

(ii) Help center notices may be included as part of a station's DTV Consumer Education Initiative efforts, or may be discussed for at least 15 seconds during news programs, or broadcast in other ways that the station determines will be most helpful to consumers.

(iii) Notwithstanding the content requirements of paragraph (c) of this section, a licensee or permittee electing compliance with paragraph (c) of this section may replace up to 25 percent of its daily PSAs and crawls with help center notices.

(c) Consumer Education Campaign Option One:

(1) From March 27, 2008 through the station's termination of analog service or, for stations subject to the provisions of paragraph (b)(4) of this section, until the station completes construction of its full, authorized post-transition digital facility, a licensee or permittee must, at a minimum, air one transition-related public service announcement (PSA), and one transition-related informative text crawl, in every quarter of every broadcast day. This minimum will increase to two of each, per quarter, from April 1, 2008 through September 30, 2008, and to three of each, per quarter, from October 1, 2008 through the conclusion of the campaign. At least one PSA and one informative text crawl per day must be aired between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. in the Atlantic, Eastern and Pacific time zones, and between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. in the Mountain, Central, and Alaskan time zones.

(2) For the purposes of this section, each broadcast day consists of four quarters; 6:01 a.m. to 12 p.m., 12:01 p.m. to 6 p.m., 6:01 p.m. to 12 a.m., and 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m.

(3) Informative text crawls must:

(i) Air during programming;

(ii) Air for no fewer than 60 consecutive seconds;

(iii) Be displayed so that the text travels across the bottom or top of the viewing area at the same speed used for other informative text crawls concerning news, sports, and entertainment information;

(iv) Be presented in the same language as a majority of the programming carried by the station;

(v) Be displayed so that they do not block and are not blocked by closed-captioning or emergency information; and

(vi) Contain at least the following information, but may contain more, provided they contain no misleading or inaccurate statements:

(A) The nationwide switch to digital television broadcasting will be complete on June 12, 2009, but your local television stations may switch sooner. After the switch, analog-only television sets that receive TV programming through an antenna will need a converter box to continue to receive over-the-air TV. Watch your local stations to find out when they will turn off their analog signal and switch to digital-only broadcasting. Analog-only TVs should continue to work as before to receive low power, Class A or translator television stations and with cable and satellite TV services, gaming consoles, VCRs, DVD players, and similar products.

(B) More information is available by phone and online, and provide appropriate contact information, including means of contacting the station or the network.

(4) Public service announcements must have a duration of no fewer than 15 consecutive seconds, and contain, at a minimum, the information described in paragraph (c)(3)(vi) of this section. They must also address the following topics at least once each during every calendar week:

(i) The steps necessary for an over-the-air viewer or a subscriber to a multichannel video programming distributor to continue viewing the station after the transition;

(ii) The channel on which the station can be viewed after the transition;

(iii) Whether the station will be providing multiple streams of free video programming during or after the transition;

(iv) Whether the station will be providing a High Definition signal during or after the transition;

(v) The exact date and time that the station will cease analog broadcasting; and

(vi) The exact date and time that the station will begin digital broadcasting on its post-transition channel, if it has not already done so.

(d) Consumer Education Campaign Option Two:

(1) A licensee or permittee must, at a minimum, air an average of sixteen (16) transition-related PSAs per week, and an average of sixteen (16) transition-related crawls, snipes, and/or tickers per week, over a calendar quarter.

(2) For the purposes of calculating the average number of PSAs aired, a 30-second PSA qualifies as a single PSA, and two 15-second PSAs count as a single PSA.

(3) PSAs, crawls, snipes, and/or tickers aired between the hours of 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. do not conform to the requirements of this section and will not count toward calculating the average number of transition-related education pieces aired.

(4) Over the course of each calendar quarter, 25 percent of all PSAs, and 25 percent of all crawls, snipes, and/or tickers, must air between 6 p.m. and 11:35 p.m. (Atlantic, Eastern and Pacific time zones) or between 5 p.m. and 10:35 p.m. (Mountain, Central, and Alaskan time zones).

(5) Stations must air a 30-minute informational program on the digital television (DTV) transition between 8 a.m.-11:35 p.m. on at least one day after April 1, 2009, and prior to the station's termination of analog service. The program must contain at least the following information:

(i) The fact that Congress has changed the deadline for the national DTV transition to June 12, 2009;

(ii) The date and approximate time of day when the station airing the informational video is terminating analog service;

(iii) The date and approximate time of day when all other full-power stations in the same market are terminating analog service;

(iv) For stations covered by paragraph (b)(5) of this section, the same service loss information required by paragraph (b)(5) of this section.

(6) Beginning on April 1, 2009, or sixty (60) days prior to the station's termination of analog service, whichever is later, the station must begin a 60-Day Countdown to its transition to digital-only service. During this period, the station must air at least one of the following per day:

(i) Graphic display. A graphic super-imposed during programming content that reminds viewers graphically there are “x number of days” until the transition. They will be visually instructed to call a toll-free number and/or visit a Web site for details. The duration must be at least five (5) seconds.

(ii) Animated graphic. A moving or animated graphic that ends up as a countdown reminder. It would remind viewers that there are “x number of days” until the transition. They will be visually instructed to call a toll-free number and/or visit a Web site for details. The duration must be at least five (5) seconds.

(iii) Graphic and audio display. Option #1 or option #2 with an added audio component. The duration must be at least five (5) seconds.

(iv) Longer form reminders. Stations can choose from a variety of longer form options to communicate the countdown message. Examples might include an “Ask the Expert” segment where viewers can call in to a phone bank and ask knowledgeable people their questions about the transition. The duration must be at least two (2) minutes. (Some stations may also choose to include during newscasts DTV “experts” who may be asked questions by the anchor or reporter about the impending transition deadline.)

(e) Consumer Education Campaign Option Three:

(1) Only a licensee or permittee of a noncommercial television station may elect this option. Under this option, from March 27, 2008, through April 30, 2008, a noncommercial broadcaster must, at a minimum, air 60 seconds per day of transition-related education (PSAs), in variable timeslots, including at least 7.5 minutes per month between 6 p.m. and 12 a.m. From May 1, 2008, through October 31, 2008, a broadcaster must, at a minimum, air 120 seconds per day of transition-related education (PSAs), in variable timeslots, including at least 15 minutes per month between 6 p.m. and 12 a.m. From November 1, 2008, through the station's termination of analog service, or, for stations subject to the provisions of paragraph (b)(4) of this section, until the station completes construction of its full, authorized post-transition digital facility, a broadcaster must, at a minimum, air 180 seconds per day of transition-related education (PSAs), in variable timeslots, including at least 22.5 minutes per month between 6 p.m. and 12 a.m.

(2) Noncommercial stations must air a 30-minute informational program on the digital television (DTV) transition between 8 a.m.-11:35 p.m. on at least one day after April 1, 2009, and prior to the station's termination of analog service. The program must contain at least the following information:

(i) The fact that Congress has changed the deadline for the national DTV transition to June 12, 2009;

(ii) The date and approximate time of day when the station airing the informational video is terminating analog service;

(iii) The date and approximate time of day when all other full-power stations in the same market are terminating analog service;

(iv) For stations covered by paragraph (b)(5) of this section, the same service loss information required by paragraph (b)(5) of this section.

[74 FR 11315, Mar. 17, 2009]