May Newsletter

While we were attending the National Association of Broadcasters Convention last month, the Commission issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making entitled “Policies to Promote Rural Radio Service and to Streamline Allotment and Assignment Procedures”. The Notice contains numerous proposals for consideration and asks for comments on each. The items for discussion include changes to the present allotment priority criteria. To be considered are 1) first full-time reception service; 2) second full-time reception service; 3) first local service; and 4) other public interest matters. The FCC is considering removing priority #3 for those proposed changes or allotments that are located in or near an Urbanized Area, as indicated in the US Census. They are also considering whether priority #4 should only apply to applications for new AM stations or major change AM applications. Additional proposals would bring more scrutiny to proposals that provide greater than 50% coverage of an urbanized area or have the ability to move closer as a second step. There is also a proposal to consider “service indexing” for a proposed relocation. A service index is based on the number of reception services that already exist in an area where a new or relocated station would provide an additional service. This index would consider the actual gain area population. Further, the Commission is also seeking comments on whether the creation of any white area (an area receiving no over the air service) or gray area (an area receiving only one over the air service) as a result of a relocation of an existing station should prevent the proposed change.

Comments are also being solicited regarding the AM auction process, specifically, whether an AM station that receives a grant based on a specific coverage area should be allowed to downgrade the coverage and whether the initially submitted AM auction application (short form) should be compliant with existing stations. In the last AM window, short form applications were filed that did not adequately protect licensed stations or did not contain sufficient technical data for a preliminary review. The new proposal would require applicants to submit valid proposals in order to be considered eligible for the auction. The Commission is also considering placing a cap on the number of applications for AM stations that a single entity can submit in a window.

Additional updates to the rules were also proposed involving the relocation of a translator from the commercial band into the non-commercial band (band hopping); adding data regarding the use of supplemental showings for FM stations; standards for nighttime AM mutual exclusivity; and new entrant bidding credits. The comment deadline for MB Docket # 09-52 is July 13, 2009, and the reply comment deadline is August 11, 2009.