[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 230 (Wednesday, December 1, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67267-67269]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-31115]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
[DA 99-2605]
Mass Media Bureau Announces Window Filing Opportunity for Certain
Pending Applications and Allotment Petitions for New Analog TV Stations
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This document announces a window filing opportunity to allow
persons with certain pending requests for new analog (NTSC) television
stations to modify their requests, if possible, to eliminate technical
conflicts with digital television (DTV) stations and to move from
channels 60 through 69. The term ``DTV stations'' here includes DTV
allotments, authorized or requested increases in DTV allotment
facilities and proposals for new or modified DTV allotments. The window
shall open upon the release of this document and close on March 17,
2000.
DATES: The window filing opportunity begins November 22, 1999, and
closes March 17, 2000.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shaun Maher, Video Services Division,
Mass Media Bureau at (202) 418-1600.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This window is available for (1) amendments
(other than channel changes) to pending applications for new full-
service NTSC television stations on channel 2 through 59, (2) petitions
for rule making seeking a new channel below channel 60 for those
applicants with pending applications for new full-service NTSC
television stations on channels 60 through 69 (in addition, authorized
NTSC stations and DTV allotments on channels 60 through 69 can seek
permission to relocate to a lower channel at any time, including during
this filing window, if they can identify a suitable channel) (3)
petitions for rule making seeking a new channel below channel 60 for
those applicants with pending applications for new full-service NTSC
television stations on channels 2 through 59 at locations inside of the
``TV Freeze Areas'' and (4) amendments to pending rule making petitions
to amend the TV Table of Allotments to add NTSC television allotments.
All application amendments, petitions for rule making and
amendments to petitions for rule making seeking a new NTSC channel must
be filed during this window. Pursuant to the Commission's directive, we
will thereafter dismiss all remaining applications on channels 60
through 69, all freeze-area applications on channel 2 through 59 that
conflict with a DTV station, and all rulemaking petitions requesting a
channel above 59 or a channel that conflicts with a DTV station.
In a related proceeding initiated on September 22, 1999, the
Commission is considering the creation of a new ``Class A'' television
service, providing some elements of primary status for some low power
TV (LPTV) stations. See Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, MM Docket No.
99-292, 64 FR 56999 (10/22/99). A question is posed in that proceeding
about whether protection should be afforded to NTSC applications and
rule making petitions that are pending when the new Class A rules take
effect. If the Commission decides in that proceeding that pending NTSC
applications and rule making petitions are not to be protected from new
Class A stations, and Class A stations are created that conflict with
such pending applications or rule making petitions, those NTSC
applications and rule making petitions would be dismissed or denied. If
the Commission decides that the pending NTSC proposals have priority,
applicants for Class A licenses could be required to protect these
service proposals.
Background
This window filing opportunity is available only to (1) those
persons who filed petitions for rule making on or before July 25, 1996,
to add an NTSC channel to the TV Table of Allotments, and (2) persons
with applications for new full-service NTSC television stations that
were filed on or before September 20, 1996, or applications filed after
that date in response to a valid cutoff list. These were the deadlines
that the Commission set in its DTV Sixth Further Notice of Proposed
Rule Making for the filing of rulemaking petitions to add channels to
the TV Table of Allotments and new applications for analog stations on
vacant allotments. See Advanced Television Systems and Their Impact
Upon the Existing Television Broadcast Service, Sixth Further Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking, 61 FR 43209 (8/21/96) (Sixth Further Notice). In
that Sixth Further Notice, the Commission indicated that petitions for
rule making that had been filed and open rule making proceedings would
be addressed on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the impact on
the draft DTV allotment table.
On January 6, 1998, the Commission issued a Report and Order in ET
Docket No. 97-157 wherein it reallocated the 746-806 MHz band
(television channels 60 through 69) for public safety use and
commercial fixed, mobile and broadcasting services. See Reallocation of
Television Channels 60-69, the 746-806 MHz Band, Report and Order, 63
FR 06669 (2/10/98) (Report and Order). In that Report and Order, the
Commission acknowledged that there were pending applications for new
NTSC television stations on pre-existing channel 60-69 allotments and
also petitions for rulemaking to add new allotments on these channels
to the TV allotment table. The Commission decided to not authorize any
more new full-service NTSC television stations on channels 60 through
69. Nevertheless, it recognized that those persons with pending
applications and/or petitions for new full-service NTSC television
stations on those channels had already invested time, money and effort
into their applications and petitions. Therefore, the Commission stated
that it would not summarily terminate the pending applications and
petitions, and it would, at a later date, provide applicants and
petitioners an opportunity to amend their applications and petitions,
if possible, to a channel below channel 60.
On December 18, 1998, the Commission issued a Second Memorandum
Opinion and Order in MM Docket No. 87-268 wherein it addressed
petitions for reconsideration of its earlier decisions in the DTV
proceeding. See Advanced Television Systems and Their Impact Upon the
Existing Television Broadcast Service, Second Memorandum Opinion and
Order on Reconsideration of the Fifth and Sixth Report and Order, 63 FR
13546 (3/20/98) (Second MO&O). The Commission acknowledged that there
were pending applications for new NTSC television stations at locations
for which the Commission had previously frozen the acceptance of
applications in order to preserve spectrum for DTV use (TV freeze
areas). The Commission had previously not protected these freeze-area
applications in the development of the DTV Table of Allotments.
Nevertheless, the Commission believed that it was desirable to provide
freeze-area applicants with the option to pursue their applications
wherever such
[[Page 67268]]
application would not conflict with NTSC or DTV stations. Therefore,
the Commission stated that it would allow freeze-area applicants whose
applications conflict with DTV stations to request a change in their
requested NTSC channel or to amend their application to eliminate all
such conflicts.
Amendments to Applications (Excluding Channel Changes)
All applicants that are part of a single mutually exclusive (MX)
group because their applications now seek the use of the same channel
allotment (below 60) must decide as a group whether to pursue a channel
change through the petition for rule making process. Members of an MX
group that have chosen to remain on their allotted channel may file a
settlement agreement with a single corrective amendment to the proposed
surviving application. Members of an MX group that do not file a
settlement agreement and do not jointly request a channel change in a
rule making petition, must each amend their application to eliminate
any technical conflict with DTV stations.
Each application amendment filed during this window opportunity
must conform with all pertinent legal and technical requirements,
including criteria for interference protection to both NTSC and DTV
services. Application amendments must meet the minimum distance
separations between NTSC stations (47 CFR 73.610) and must protect DTV
stations as provided in Sec. 73.623(c), but without any allowance to
create de minimis interference as defined in Sec. 73.623(c)(2). As
indicated, the term ``DTV stations'' here includes DTV authorizations,
applications, allotments and rule making proposals. November 1, 1999
was the scheduled due date for most commercial television stations to
file DTV construction permit applications. The Mass Media Bureau is
currently entering into its computer database the many applications
that were filed and expects to complete this entry by the end of the
year.
Application amendments may include changes in the ERP, directional
antenna pattern, antenna height or site location requested in the
application. Application amendments may also request DTV operation, as
the Commission indicated in paragraph 41 of the Second MO&O. An
application amendment to specify DTV operation will be evaluated under
the criteria for changing an initial DTV allotment set forth in
Sec. 73.622(a) of the rules. Specifically, the channel may be in the
range from 2 through 59, and DTV and NTSC stations must be protected by
meeting the engineering criteria of Sec. 73.623(c) of the rules.
Applying these criteria is consistent with the Commission action in the
Memorandum Opinion and Order on Reconsideration of the Fifth Report and
Order that allows these stations to be converted to DTV operation, even
if their channel is outside the core range of 2 through 51. See
Advanced Television Systems and Their Impact Upon the Existing
Television Broadcast Service, Memorandum Opinion and Order on
Reconsideration of the Fifth Report and Order, 63 FR 15774 (4/1/98)
(Memorandum Opinion and Order on Reconsideration of the Fifth Report
and Order).
Petitions for Rule Making To Specify a New Channel or Amendments of
Petitions
A change of an NTSC allotment channel must be requested by filing a
petition for rule making seeking such a change. A channel change may
not be requested through an amendment to a pending application.
However, there are 2 applications (for channel 64 in Charlottesville,
VA) that have been through an extended process of comparative hearing,
court appeal, and remand to the Commission. They currently have pending
a settlement agreement and an application amendment that specify a
different channel. Because of the age and unique history of those
applications and because they are currently before the Commission, the
Bureau will not require the filing of a rule making petition.
Rulemaking petitions or amendments to pending petitions must retain the
community of license specified in the pending television application or
rulemaking petition.
Such petitions for rule making filed during this window by freeze-
area applicants on channels below 60 must also demonstrate that
interference to a DTV station (which could be a DTV allotment, a
proposed change in a DTV allotment, or an application to change a DTV
station's facilities) would be caused if the requested channel change
is not made. Such a petition may request a DTV channel as the
replacement for the NTSC channel allotment, as the Commission indicated
in paragraph 42 of the Second MO&O. A petition seeking a DTV allotment
under these circumstances will be evaluated under the criteria for
changing an initial DTV allotment set forth in Sec. 73.622(a) of the
rules. Specifically, the channel may be in the range from 2 through 59,
and DTV and NTSC stations must be protected by meeting the engineering
criteria of Sec. 73.623(c) of the rules.
Where multiple applications have been filed for a single NTSC
channel allotment, a petition for rulemaking must propose a single
replacement channel (below 60), to which all applicants agree to modify
their applications.
Persons with pending rulemaking petitions for channels 60 through
69 should amend their petitions to specify a channel below channel 60.
Persons with pending rulemaking petitions for channels 2 through 59
should amend their petitions to specify a different channel below
channel 60 if their requested channel is in conflict with a DTV
station. New and amended rulemaking petitions submitted during this
window filing opportunity will be subject to our normal notice and
comment procedures. However, as the Commission indicated in the Sixth
Further Notice and reiterated in the Second MO&O, new proposals for
additional NTSC channel allotments will not be accepted. Therefore, new
parties may not counterpropose a new NTSC allotment in the same or
nearby communities. The opportunity for filing counterproposals is
limited to those parties with existing petitions and applications that
are the subject of this filing window. When a rule making proceeding
has been started by a Notice of Proposed Rule Making, conflicting
proposals must be filed in initial comments, pursuant to the procedures
for consideration of counterproposals. Rulemaking petitions and
amendments to pending petitions filed during this window opportunity
must conform with all pertinent legal and technical requirements,
including pertinent criteria for interference protection to NTSC and
DTV services. Allotment proposals must meet the minimum distance
separations between NTSC stations (47 CFR 73.610). Petitions to change
the channel of an existing allotment must protect DTV stations as
provided in Sec. 73.623(c), but without any allowance to create de
minimis interference as defined in Sec. 73.623(c)(2). Amendments to
existing petitions to add a new NTSC channel allotment must meet the
minimum distance separations to DTV stations as provided in
Sec. 73.623(d). As indicated above, the term ``DTV stations'' here
includes DTV authorizations, applications, allotments and proposals.
November 1, 1999 was the scheduled due date for most commercial
television stations to file DTV construction permit applications. The
Mass Media Bureau is currently entering into its computer database the
many applications that were filed and
[[Page 67269]]
expects to complete this entry by the end of the year.
In developing proposed amendments to the allotment table,
petitioners are advised that they should consider, to the extent
possible, authorized LPTV and TV translator stations. An allotment
Report and Order that adds a new channel to the NTSC table of
allotments will specify a period of time for the filing of applications
(using FCC Form 301) for a new NTSC TV station construction permit.
Associated applications will remain pending as long as there is
pending a petition for rulemaking seeking an alternate channel. An
allotment Report and Order changing a channel allotment will specify a
period of time for the filing of amendments to pending applications
(using FCC Form 301), for the modified channel allotment. Such
amendments to pending applications will be considered minor and the
applications will retain their original file numbers.
MX Group Resolution
To encourage settlements among mutually exclusive applicants, we
will waive for this special window filing opportunity the rule that
limits reimbursements of applicants to legitimate and prudent expenses.
See 47 CFR 73.3525(a)(3). Those applications for particular commercial
channel allotments below 60 that continue to be mutually exclusive
after the completion of the amendment process will be resolved by use
of the Commission's new broadcast competitive bidding rules. Consistent
with those rules, wherever two or more applications were pending for
the same allotment before July 1997, the group is closed and no
additional applications for the allotment (on the new channel) will be
accepted. Wherever a single application was pending for an allotment
before July 1997, and that application has not been ``cutoff'' against
the filing of competing applications, the application (as amended) will
be subject to competing applications in accordance with the
Commission's auction filing window procedures to be announced at a
later date.
Federal Communications Commission.
Magalie Roman Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-31115 Filed 11-30-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P
