[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 209 (Monday, October 28, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55638-55639]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-27568]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
[DA 96-1724]
Released: October 17, 1996.
Mass Media Bureau Announces Commencement of Sixty (60) Day Period
for Filing ITFS Modifications and Amendments Seeking to Co-Locate
Facilities with Wireless Cable Operations
1. Commencing October 24, 1996, and continuing to and including
December 23, 1996, the Commission will permit the filing of
modification applications and amendments to pending applications in the
Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS) proposing to co-locate
with an authorized wireless cable facility.
2. This 60 day co-location filing period is not for the filing of
new station applications or modification applications for additional
channels. Amendments and modifications may not involve a technical
conflict with existing operation(s) or with application(s) filed prior
to this sixty (60) day filing period. Applications for upgrades in
facilities unrelated to proposed co-location with a wireless cable
facility will not be accepted. In addition, curative amendments to
otherwise defective applications will not be accepted for filing.
Changes in facilities which fail to comply with the limitations set
forth in this Public Notice will not be accepted for filing.
3. On March 28, 1996, the Commission completed its auction of
authorizations to provide single channel and multichannel Multipoint
Distribution Service (collectively referred to as MDS) in 493 Basic
Trading Areas (BTAs) and BTA-like areas. Many BTA authorization holders
and incumbent wireless cable operators lease excess channel capacity
from the ITFS licensees in the same service area, pursuant to Section
74.931(e) of the Commission's Rules. The purpose of this Public Notice
is to facilitate marketwide settlements and expedite the development of
wireless cable services by permitting ITFS applicants and licensees to
modify their applications or facilities to specify co-location with the
facilities of a wireless cable operator which leases its ITFS channels.
Therefore, amendments to pending applications, which were timely filed
and substantially complete at the time of filing, and modification
applications for changes in ITFS facilities will be accepted during the
specified sixty (60) day filing period, provided that co-location with
a wireless cable facility is proposed and the ITFS applicant or
licensee has an executed channel lease agreement with the wireless
cable operator. Applicants and licensees may also propose any changes
in technical facilities in an effort to replicate those of the co-
located wireless cable facility.
4. Applicants are requested to specify in an exhibit their
protected service area (PSA) as follows. First, ITFS entities who lease
excess channel capacity to an incumbent MDS operator (one authorized or
proposed on or before September 15, 1995) should so state and specify
the protected service area of the co-located wireless cable system, a
fixed circle with a radius of 35 miles. Specifically, applicants are
requested to provide the geographic latitude and longitude of the
center of the PSA, which will not necessarily coincide with the
proposed transmitting antenna site coordinates. Secondly, ITFS entities
who lease excess capacity to a BTA holder should so state. In such
cases the ITFS PSA will be a circular 35-mile protected service area
centered at the transmitting antenna coordinates of the co-located MDS
station, i.e., the site coordinates proposed in the application. An
applicant's correct specification of its intended service area will
facilitate the processing of the application and insure appropriate
interference protection.
5. To further facilitate the orderly and expeditious processing of
these submissions, applicants and licensees filing amendments and
modifications pursuant to this Public Notice are requested to use a
completed ``cover sheet,'' identical to the cover sheet form attached
to this Public Notice. In addition, all modification applications and
amendments to pending applications must be substantially complete when
tendered for filing.
6. All filings in response to this Public Notice must be filed with
the Secretary's Office, Federal Communications Commission, 1919 M
Street, Room 222, Washington, D.C. 20054. See 47 CFR 0.401(a). Mailed
modification applications and amendments to pending applications must
be received by the Commission no later than December 23, 1996. Hand-
carried or courier-delivered ITFS filings can be delivered daily during
the sixty day filing period at the Secretary's Office from 8:00 a.m. to
5:30 p.m. Submissions tendered after 5:30 p.m. on Monday, December 23,
1996, will not be accepted. Applicants are required to submit an
original and two duplicate copies of the filing. To further facilitate
the initial processing of these filings, all applicants are requested
to enclose in a single envelope the original and duplicate copies of
the filing, with each duplicate copy clearly denoted as such by the
applicant. Where more than one application or amendment is being filed,
separate envelopes enclosing the individual filings (i.e., an original
and two copies) can be mailed in a single package. The Secretary's
Office will provide date stamped copies of hand delivered filings upon
request.
7. Modification applications and amendments which do not comply
with the limitations set forth in this Public Notice, or which are
otherwise found to be defective, will be rejected and returned to the
applicant.
8. For further information concerning this sixty (60) day filing
period, contact Charles P. Gratch or Joyce L. Bernstein, Video Services
Division, Mass Media Bureau at (202) 418-1610.
Federal Communications Commission.
William F. Caton,
Acting Secretary.
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P
[[Page 55639]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN28OC96.022
[FR Doc. 96-27568 Filed 10-25-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-C
