Late last month, the Commission issued its opinion on the merits of several Petitions
for Reconsideration in the Low Power FM proceeding. The power limits for LPFM will remain
at 100 watts, although the original request had been for a power level of 1000 watts. A
power increase to 250 watts may be considered in the future. The Commission also declined
to provide 3rd adjacent channel protection to existing full service stations,
but will require LPFM stations operating in the non-commercial portion of the spectrum to
provide 3rd adjacent channel protection to those stations providing reading for
the blind services on its sub-carriers.
The release went on to outline the manner existing stations and LPFM stations are to
address interference issues. The Commission will only take action if the complaints cannot
be addressed by the parties involved. The Commission noted that interference to less than
1% of the main station's protected contour will effectively be considered de minimus.
Several of the Commissioners again issued dissenting opinions. One Commissioner reiterated
his concerns regarding the speed the FCC has moved LPFM proposals forward.
On a related note, Congress is still considering legislation that would change LPFM.
Two proposals in the Senate are supported by more than 50 Senators. The first bill,
S.2068, blocks the implementation of LPFM entirely. The second, S.3020, is a companion to
the bill passed by the House of Representatives and would require 3rd adjacent
channel protection for all LPFM stations or require formal studies of the impact to 3rd
adjacent channel stations should LPFM's be allowed to ignore 3rd adjacent
channel protections. These proposals may be added as a rider to a pending bill for
consideration during this session. We will keep you posted.
A long, long time ago, in a country not far away, the evil empire (Commission) placed a freeze on the filing of new applications for FM stations and has not opened a filing window for the hundreds of vacant allocations for well over six years. On September 25th, the FCC announced that it will open an auction
window on February 21, 2001, for over 350 vacant channels. Construction permits for
these channels will be awarded to the highest bidder. Nearly all new channels allotted
since the freeze and up to June 30, 2000, will be open for auction.
Although these channels have been protected in the Commission's database since their
initial allotment, there have been changes in the FM band that may allow the channel's
improvement, a move closer to a desired market or may preclude any movement. Although a
channel may be allocated to a community, there is not sufficient information about where
it can and cannot move. Before deciding whether or not to bid on a channel, make sure it
will cover the desired market or makes sense for your business plan. In previous Notices,
the Commission indicated it will allow bidders to specify a site to afford some site
protection pending the outcome of the auctions.
Last month we reported the new minor change rules for LPTV stations would become
effective on October 1, 2000. Just prior to that date, the Commission pushed the date back
to January 15, 2001, acting upon a request from the Association of Federal Communications
Consulting Engineers ("AFCCE"). The postponement is based on concerns that the
over 4000 recently submitted LPTV applications would not be listed in the FCC databases.
The AFCCE was concerned that some of the minor change applications that were submitted may
be mutually exclusive with previously filed new or major change proposals.
October 27, 2000, is the last day the Commission will allow paper submissions of FCC Form 301 for full service AM, FM or TV stations. After this date, the Commission will only accept applications for construction permits by electronic filing. For the past five months, the FCC has allowed such applications to be submitted either electronically or in paper form. We will continue to provide our clients with a complete hard copy of the application for their review and public inspection files. While the FCC is trying to become paperless, the rest of us have to continue shuffling paper.