On March 13, 2009, and in response to the Congressional extension of the digital transition deadline from February 17 to June 12, 2009, the FCC released an R&O which, among other things, revised the rules associated with its requirements for DTV Consumer Education Initiatives. Those significant revisions, which became effective on April 1, 2009, included additional viewer notifications regarding antennas, help/walk-in centers, rescanning activities, and service loss.
The FCC has released a draft version of its most recent FCC Form 388 which includes the rule changes. A copy of the revised FCC Form 388, which has not yet received OMB approval, is available for review on the FCC’s website at https://www.fcc.gov/Forms/Form388/388.pdf.
By July 10, 2009, all television stations are required to report on the DTV Education Initiatives undertaken in the months of April, May and June by electronically filing the revised FCC Form 388. The FCC Form 388 is also required to be placed in the station’s public inspection file by July 10, 2009 and posted by that date to the station’s website, if it has one. Details of the FCC’s DTV Consumer Education requirements can be found in our Advisory posted on our website by clicking the link below.
Stations that have completed construction of their fully-authorized, post-transition digital facilities do not need to continue with the general DTV Consumer Education announcements and will not be required to submit any additional FCC Forms 388 after the July 10 filing.
However, stations that have not yet completed construction or commenced operation of their final post-transition DTV facilities must continue the required general DTV Consumer Education Initiatives until they commence operation on their post-transition DTV facilities. Such stations will be required to file another FCC Form 388 by October 10, 2009, providing the Commission with the details of the DTV Consumer initiatives that they performed up until the time they began operating exclusively in digital on their post-transition facilities.
If you have any questions about your DTV educational obligations, please contact any of the members of our Communications Practice Section.
>Alert: FCC Adopts New DTV Consumer Education and Reporting Requirements
A PDF version of this article can be found at FCC Makes Available its Revised 2009 Second Quarter DTV Consumer Education Report (Form 388) for Television Stations, Which Must Be Filed by July 10, 2009