§ 74.787 - Licensing.

§ 74.787 Licensing.

(a) Applications for low power television and television translator stations.

(1)–(2) [Reserved]

(3) Construction permit applications for new stations, major changes to existing stations in the low power television service. A public notice will specify the date upon which interested parties may begin to file applications for new stations and major facilities changes to existing stations in the low power television service. It will specify parameters for any applications that may be filed. Applications submitted prior to date announced by the public notice will be returned as premature. Such applications shall be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, and shall be filed on FCC Form 2100, Schedule C. Applications for new or major change shall be subject to the appropriate application fee. Mutually exclusive applications shall be resolved via the Commission's part 1 and broadcast competitive bidding rules, § 1.2100 et seq., and § 73.5000 et seq. of this chapter. Such applicants shall be afforded an opportunity to submit settlements and engineering solutions to resolve mutual exclusivity pursuant to § 73.5002(d) of this chapter.

(4) Displacement applications. A low power television, television translator, or DRT or DTDRT station which is causing or receiving interference or is predicted to cause or receive interference to or from an authorized TV broadcast station or allotment or other protected station or service, may at any time file a displacement relief application for change in channel, together with technical modifications that are necessary to avoid interference or continue serving the station's protected service area, provided the proposed transmitter site is not located more than 30 miles from the reference coordinates of the existing station's community of license. See § 76.53 of this chapter. A displacement relief application shall be filed on FCC Form 2100, Schedule C, and will be considered a minor change and will be placed on public notice for a period of not less than 30 days to permit the filing of petitions to deny. These applications will not be subject to the filing of competing applications. Where a displacement relief application for a low power television or television translator station becomes mutually exclusive with the application(s) for new low power television or television translator stations, or with other non-displacement relief applications for facilities modifications of low power television or television translator stations, priority will be afforded to the displacement application for the low power television or television translator station to the exclusion of other applications. Mutually exclusive displacement relief applications for low power television and television translator stations shall be resolved via the Commission's rules in part 1 of this chapter and broadcast competitive bidding rules in §§ 1.2100 through 1.2209 and 73.5000 through 73.5009 of this chapter. Such applicants shall be afforded an opportunity to submit settlements and engineering solutions to resolve mutual exclusivity pursuant to § 73.5002(d) of this chapter.

(5) Applications for analog-to-digital and digital-to-digital replacement television translators.

(i) Applications for new DRTs and DTDRTs are no longer accepted.

(ii) [Reserved]

(iii) Displacement applications for DRTs and DTDRTs shall be given processing priority over all other low power television and TV translator new, minor change, or displacement applications except displacement applications for other DRTs and DTDRTs with which they shall have co-equal priority.

(iv) [Reserved]

(v) Pre-auction digital service area is the geographic area within the full power station's noise-limited contour that was protected in the incentive auction repacking process. The service area of the digital-to-digital replacement translator shall be limited to only the demonstrated loss area within the full power station's pre-auction digital service area, provided that an applicant for a digital-to-digital replacement television translator may propose a de minimis expansion of its full power pre-auction digital service area upon demonstrating that the expansion is necessary to replace a loss In in its pre-auction digital service area.

(vi) The license for the analog-to-digital and digital-to-digital replacement television translator will be associated with the full power station's main license, will be assigned the same call sign, may not be separately assigned or transferred, and will be renewed with the full power station's main license.

(vii) Analog-to-digital and digital-to-digital replacement television translators may operate only on those television channels designated for broadcast television in § 74.702.

(b) Definitions of “major” and “minor” changes to low power television and television translator stations.

(1) Applications for major changes in low power television and television translator stations include:

(i) Any change in the frequency (output channel) not related to displacement relief;

(ii) Any change in transmitting antenna location where the protected contour resulting from the change does not overlap some portion of the protected contour of the authorized facilities of the existing station; or

(iii) Any change in transmitting antenna location of greater than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the reference coordinates of the existing station's antenna location.

(2) Other facilities changes will be considered minor including changes made to implement a channel sharing arrangement provided they comply with the other provisions of this section.

(c) Licensing. An application to construct a new low power TV or TV translator station or change the facilities of an existing station will not be accepted if it fails to protect an authorized Class A, low power TV, or TV translator station or an application for such a station filed prior to the date the low power TV or TV translator application is filed.

[69 FR 69333, Nov. 29, 2004, as amended at 74 FR 23655, May 20, 2009; 76 FR 44828, July 27, 2011; 81 FR 5053, Feb. 1, 2016; 83 FR 13683, Mar. 30, 2018; 84 FR 2759, Feb. 8, 2019; 86 FR 66214, Nov. 22, 2021; 87 FR 58204, Sept. 23, 2022; 88 FR 30670, May 12, 2023; 89 FR 7265, Feb. 1, 2024]