Statement of REC Networks: Reserved band protection of TV Channel 6
FCC staff confirms that pending Channel 6 applications do not require protection. REC still advocates for the elimination of these analog-era protection rules.
Good morning from Riverton. As we have mentioned in the past, the FCC recently lifted the filing freeze on new low power television (LPTV) and TV translator construction permits. This has resulted in some new applications going to Channel 6. Facilities on Channel 6, including low power, are normally protected by secondary LPFM and FM translator stations using a combination of distance separation and contours. LPFM stations can also utilize a more complex method that full service FM stations use to protect primary channel 6 stations.
This onslaught of new Channel 6 applications has brought some concern in respect to the upcoming NCE FM translator filing window. However, I am not aware of any of those Channel 6 applications being granted (LMS has confirmed this). Those that are mutually exclusive would have to go to a future auction.
Today, I have received confirmation from staff that any PENDING application for a new or modified Channel 6 facility does NOT have to be protected by LPFM or reserved band FM translator applications.
I do not know yet the timing of when the Video Division will start granting the singleton applications. There are currently 96 pending applications for new LPTV/TV translator CPs on Channel 6 nationwide. I do not know how many are singleton (but I am suspecting most of them are since the Video Division is using “first come first served” for the applications).
Likewise, I do not yet know yet the timing of the upcoming NCE Translator window. If the FCC is consistent with the past two NCE related filing windows (NCE2021 & LPFM2023), we may see a window in November.1
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There is currently a faction of grassroots community radio advocates who sent a letter to the FCC requesting that the window be delayed to 2027 among other changes in application handling. Their reasoning for the delay was because of the bureaucratic red tape that universities and schools need to go through to get something approved. While I signed on to that letter, I explicitly dissented from the endorsement of delaying the filing window to 2027 and another demand that the length of the filing window be extended from the normal one week period to a one month period.
My interpretation of §74.1205 (the translator Channel 6 protection rule) was that ungranted facilities did not need to be protected (which was just confirmed by staff). The delay would further increase the risk that these 96+ applications will be granted prior to the opening of the NCE translator filing window thus destroying many more opportunities for new FM translator applications by all applicants, LPFM and full service.
With the exception of Channel 201 (88.1), I remain opposed to the §§ 73.525, 73.825 and 74.1205 requirements that reserved band FM facilities must protect Channel 6 facilities. This is due to the fact that television has transitioned to digital and the original protection rules were written in 1985 in order to address interference to viewers using TV sets manufactured in the 1960s and 1970s that utilized mechanical tuners before the age of electronic tuning on TVs that started to be a thing in the late ‘70s.
REC continues to oppose the grassroots’ call for a delay in the filing window and that opposition is now further validated by staff’s confirmation of my interpretation of §74.1205. The fewer authorized Channel 6 facilities there are, the better the chances are for new opportunities for community radio in extended areas.
A few years ago, in MB Docket 03-185, we were very close to having this obsolete protection rule eliminated and even appeared in a circulation draft. Last minute lobbying by the Walt Disney Corporation, licensees of WPVI, Philadelphia, the only full-service commercial network affiliate using RF Channel 6 kept the restrictions in place. Think about that when your Disney+ subscription comes up for renewal or you are thinking of going to a theme park this year.
REC continues to advocate for an elimination of these obsolete rules (§§ 73.525, 73.825 and 74.1205) in the “In re: Delete, Delete, Delete” proceeding.
The LPFM filing window was originally scheduled for November, 2023, but was delayed at the request of the grassroots movement to December, 2023.