2024-08743. Television Broadcasting Services Jacksonville, Florida

AGENCY:

Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION:

Proposed rule.

SUMMARY:

The Video Division, Media Bureau (Bureau), has before it a petition for rulemaking filed January 19, 2024 and amended on January 30, 2024, by Multimedia Holdings Corporation (Petitioner). The Petitioner requests the substitution of channel 33 for channel 13 at Jacksonville, Florida (Jacksonville), in the Table of TV Allotments.

DATES:

Comments must be filed on or before May 24, 2024 and reply comments on or before June 10, 2024.

ADDRESSES:

Federal Communications Commission, Office of the Secretary, 45 L Street NE, Washington, DC 20554. In addition to filing comments with the FCC, interested parties should serve counsel for the Petitioner as follows: Michael Beder, Esq., Associate General Counsel, TEGNA Inc., 8350 Broad Street, Suite 2000, Tysons, Virginia 22102.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Joyce Bernstein, Media Bureau, at [phone]; or Joyce Bernstein, Media Bureau, at [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

In support of its channel substitution request, the Petitioner states that its proposed channel substitution would serve the public interest by resolving persistent reception complaints it has received from viewers, and substantially improve the Jacksonville community's access to the Station's local news, emergency, NBC network, and other programming. The Petitioner states that the Commission has recognized that VHF channels have certain characteristics that pose challenges for their use in providing digital television service, including propagation characteristics that allow undesired signals and noise to be receivable at relatively far distances.

Additionally, the Petitioner notes that the Commission has observed “large variability in the performance (especially intrinsic gain) of indoor antennas available to consumers, with most antennas receiving fairly well at UHF and the substantial majority not so well to very poor at high-VHF.” Petitioner further states that the Commission has recognized that although VHF reception issues are not universal, environmental noise blockages affecting VHF signal strength and reception exist and vary widely from service area to service area.

An engineering statement provided by the Petitioner confirms that the proposed channel *33 contour would provide full principal community coverage to Jacksonville and would not cause impermissible interference to any station. Although an analysis provided by the Petitioner using the Commission's TVStudy software tool indicates that the Station's move to channel 33 will result in 274,303 persons no longer being located within the station's noise limited service contour (NLSC), there are three other NBC affiliated TV stations whose NLSC overlaps with WTLV's proposed NLSC. These stations serve all but 16,737 persons in the predicted loss area. Furthermore, according to the Petitioner, when the Commission's TVStudy software is run for the Station's licensed and proposed facilities with the Study Area Mode set to unrestricted to predict coverage outside the proposed NLSC, all viewers in the predicted loss area would continue to receive over-the-air NBC network programming. Thus, according to the Petitioner, although the proposed channel 33 facility would result in a reduction in the predicted population served, once service provided by other NBC stations and terrain-limited coverage predictions are taken into account, the proposed channel 33 facility will result in no loss of NBC service.

We believe that the Petitioner's channel substitution proposal for WTLV warrants consideration. Channel 33 can be substituted for channel 13 at Jacksonville as proposed, in compliance with the principal community coverage requirements of § 73.618(a) of the Commission's Rules, at coordinates 30-16′-25″ N and 81-33′-12″ W. In addition, we find that this channel change meets the technical requirements set forth in § 73.622(a) of the rules. Although the proposal is predicted to result in a loss of service to 274,303 persons, all of those persons would continue to receive over-the-air NBC network service either from other existing stations or while being located outside of WTLV's NLSC.

This is a synopsis of the Commission's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM,) MB Docket No. 24-112; RM-11981; DA 24-358, adopted April 16, 2024, and released April 16, 2024. The full text of this document is available for download at https://www.fcc.gov/​edocs. To request materials in accessible formats (braille, large print, computer diskettes, or audio recordings), please send an email to [e-mail] or call the Consumer & Government Affairs Bureau at [phone] (VOICE), [phone] (TTY).

This document does not contain information collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13. In addition, therefore, it does not contain any proposed information collection burden “for small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees,” pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198, see44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4). Provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, 5 U.S.C. 601-612, do not apply to this proceeding.

Members of the public should note that all ex parte contacts are prohibited from the time a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is issued to the time the matter is no longer subject to Commission consideration or court review, see47 CFR 1.1208. There are, however, exceptions to this prohibition, which can be found in § 1.1204(a) of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.1204(a).

See §§ 1.415 and 1.420 of the Commission's rules for information regarding the proper filing procedures for comments, 47 CFR 1.415 and 1.420.

Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act: The Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act, Public Law 118-9, requires each agency, in providing notice of a rulemaking, to post online a brief plain-language summary of the proposed rule. The required summary of this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking/Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is available at https://www.fcc.gov/​proposed-rulemakings.

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 73

• Television

Federal Communications Commission.

Thomas Horan,

Chief of Staff, Media Bureau.

Proposed Rule

For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Federal Communications Commission proposes to amend 47 CFR part 73 as follows:

PART 73—RADIO BROADCAST SERVICE

1. The authority citation for part 73 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 154, 155, 301, 303, 307, 309, 310, 334, 336, 339.

2. In § 73.622, in the table in paragraph (j), under Florida, by amending the entry for Jacksonville to read as follows:

§ 73.622

Digital television table of allotments.

* * * * *

(j) * * *

Community	Channel No.
*    *    *    *    *
Florida
*    *    *    *    *
Jacksonville	*9, 14, 18, 19, 20, *21, 33
*    *    *    *    *

* * * * *