Search
Comm Law CenterPublished on:
Beginning January 5, 2009, the FCC Will Accept Applications for Fill-in Digital Television Translator Stations and Requests for Special Temporary Authority to Avoid Loss of Service in Connection With the Digital Transition
January 2009
On December 23, 2008, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) proposing creation of a new replacement digital television translator service. This service will permit full-power television stations to continue to provide service to viewers who have lost or will lose service as a result of a station’s digital transition. In the NPRM, the FCC announced that it will begin accepting applications in the coming days, although processing of these applications will be withheld pending the outcome of the proceeding. In the interim, the FCC proposed that stations could request Special Temporary Authority (“STA”) to operate replacement television translator facilities during the pendency of the rulemaking proceeding.