FCC Relaxes DTV Transition for 10 stations
Less than 60 days before the transition to digital television, the FCC has begun loosening restrictions for 10 television broadcast stations before signal testing begins for satellite operators. The extra time is to allow broadcasters to boost their DTV coverage area, and suprisingly, for some stations not broadcasting digital signals at full strength. (Edited 12-18-08: now includes information about satellite operators: Thanks Trip in VA)
The FCC permits satellite companies to test TV station signal strength and import similar out-of-market TV stations to viewers who do receive a good signal from the in-market station, and as Broadcast and Cable notes:
…during the DTV transition, the DTV signals of a number of stations are not yet at full strength or coverage for various reasons and the FCC has exempted them from the requirement since that would allow the importation of signals to viewers who will eventually be getting the relevant in-market station. The commission has said it would be flexible about such issues and work with stations making the DTV switch.
ABC-owned WABC-DT in New York is among the stations that will receive extra time, with a target digital transition deadline of June 15, 2009, due in part to the 9/11 attacks that destroyed it’s broadcast towers.
Other stations that have received a reprieve (as listed by Broadcast and Cable)
(WTVG Toledo; KAUZ Wichita Falls, TX; KNOP North Platte, NE; WNKY Dowl Green, KY; KCBY Coos Bay, OR; KVAL Eugene, OR; WTRF Wheeling, WVA; and WBOY Clarksburg, WVA.)
The relaxed digital transition deadlines follow after an unrelated press release of seven ”at risk” communities determined by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund and the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration. To make the “at risk” list, a community must have relatively high numbers of residents who watch analog over-the-air television broadcasts and relatively low participation in the NTIA’s TV Converter Box Coupon Program. Here are the “at risk” areas, as published by thestandard.com
- San Francisco/San Jose/Oakland
- Seattle/Tacoma
- Atlanta
- Detroit
- Minneapolis-St. Paul
- San Antonio
- Portland, Oregon
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