2014-21751. Television Broadcasting Services; Mount Vernon, Illinois

AGENCY:

Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION:

Proposed rule.

SUMMARY:

The Commission has before it a petition for rulemaking filed by WPXS, Inc. (“WPXS”), the licensee of station WPXS(TV), channel 21, Mount Vernon, Illinois, requesting the substitution of channel 11 for channel 21 at Mount Vernon. While the Commission instituted a freeze on the acceptance of full power television rulemaking petitions requesting channel substitutions in May 2011, it recently adopted rules to implement the broadcast television spectrum incentive auction authorized by the Spectrum Act which facilitates the voluntary return of television spectrum usage rights and reorganizes the broadcast television bands. The Commission will be able to recover a portion of ultra-high frequency (“UHF”) spectrum for new, flexible-use licenses suitable for mobile broadband services. By relinquishing channel 21, a UHF channel, the proposed channel substitution will assist the Commission in the repacking process by freeing up a UHF channel, which serves the public interest.

DATES:

Comments must be filed on or before October 14, 2014, and reply comments on or before October 27, 2014.

ADDRESSES:

Federal Communications Commission, Office of the Secretary, 445 12th Street SW., Washington, DC 20554. In addition to filing comments with the FCC, interested parties should serve counsel for petitioner as follows: John R. Feore, Esq., Cooley LLP, 1299 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite 700, Washington, DC 20004-2400.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

This is a synopsis of the Commission's Notice of Proposed Rule Making, MB Docket No. 14-139, adopted September 4, 2014, and released September 4, 2014. The full text of this document is available for public inspection and copying during normal business hours in the FCC's Reference Information Center at Portals II, CY-A257, 445 12th Street SW., Washington, DC 20554. This document will also be available via ECFS (http://www.fcc.gov/​cgb/​ecfs/​). (Documents will be available electronically in ASCII, Word 97, and/or Adobe Acrobat.) This document may be purchased from the Commission's duplicating contractor, Best Copy and Printing, Inc., 445 12th Street SW., Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 20554, telephone [phone] or via email www.BCPIWEB.com. To request this document in accessible formats (computer diskettes, large print, audio recording, and Braille), send an email to [e-mail] or call the Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at [phone] (voice), [phone] (TTY). This document does not contain proposed 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, see 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4).

Provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 do not apply to this proceeding. Members of the public should note that from the time a Notice of Proposed Rule Making is issued until the matter is no longer subject to Commission consideration or court review, all ex parte contacts (other than ex parte presentations exempt under 47 CFR 1.1204(a)) are prohibited in Commission proceedings, such as this one, which involve channel allotments. See 47 CFR 1.1208 for rules governing restricted proceedings.

For information regarding proper filing procedures for comments, see 47 CFR 1.415 and 1.420.

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 73

• Television

Federal Communications Commission.

Barbara A. Kreisman,

Chief, Video Division, Media Bureau.

Proposed Rules

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

PART 73—RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES

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

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 154, 303, 334, 336, and 339.

§ 73.622

[Amended]

2. Section 73.622(i), the Post-Transition Table of DTV Allotments under Illinois is amended by adding channel 11 and removing channel 21 at Mount Vernon.