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Graham Brock, Inc. |
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Broadcast Technical Consultants |
| Vol. XI, No. 11 |
R. Stuart Graham, Jr. |
| November 2004 |
Jefferson G. Brock |
| All TV licensees should have submitted their DTV
certification forms by November 5, 2004. These forms
were to indicate to the Commission the station’s plan
for TV replication or maximization. The next round of
filings will be for analog and digital channels within
the core, and will be due in December. These stations
are to select the channel on which they propose to
operate, post transition. Once the Commission has
reviewed the selections, a public notice will be issued
outlining any conflicts which may exist from an
interference standpoint, based on the elected channels.
Those licensees choosing to operate digitally on their
analog channels may not increase existing interference
to other DTV facilities by more than 0.1%, as opposed to
the 2.0% threshold from the original DTV pairing. |
| 288 FM channels are now being auctioned off to
the highest bidder and there are still more than 300
bidders vying for the channels at the conclusion of
the first week. The bid for one stand-alone FM
channel that would provide service to approximately
90,000 persons in Brewster, Massachusetts, is over
2.9 million dollars. It may be several weeks before
all rounds are concluded and we find out who won
each channel and how much was pledged. |
| After a month of operating under the revised
radio ownership rules, the Commission continues
to work through the practical application of
those rules. A recent conversation with the
staff revealed a case involving a station that
was listed as “Home” to a market. However, if
that station’s city of license is not in one of
the market’s metro counties, a contour overlap
study must be performed. There are also some
situations involving multiple stations, where
some are licensed to metro county communities
and others are not, requiring both a listing of
stations in the Arbitron market, as well as a
contour overlap study. Confused? You are not
alone. |
Tower Registration
Revisited |
| We have discussed tower registration
frequently but we feel we must mention it
again as an AM station in Mississippi was
recently fined for failing to register its
AM tower. In this case, the tower was over
200 feet and had not been registered because
the owner thought the Commission assigned
the number based on the station’s permit.
Tower registration is a completely separate
process which requires FAA coordination.
Remember that FCC Field Inspectors now carry
GPS receivers to pinpoint a tower’s location
and verify that the data agrees with the
registration. |
With Thanksgiving approaching, we
want to let everyone know that our
offices will be closed Thursday,
November 25th and Friday, November 26th.
We will be eating and shopping (well
some of us) and counting our blessings.
We wish for you and your families a safe
and happy celebration.
Thank you for the opportunity to be
of service, and from all of us to all of
you, Happy Thanksgiving! |
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