[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 209 (Monday, October 28, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55638-55639]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-27568]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
[DA 96-1724]
Released: October 17, 1996.


Mass Media Bureau Announces Commencement of Sixty (60) Day Period 
for Filing ITFS Modifications and Amendments Seeking to Co-Locate 
Facilities with Wireless Cable Operations

    1. Commencing October 24, 1996, and continuing to and including 
December 23, 1996, the Commission will permit the filing of 
modification applications and amendments to pending applications in the 
Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS) proposing to co-locate 
with an authorized wireless cable facility.
    2. This 60 day co-location filing period is not for the filing of 
new station applications or modification applications for additional 
channels. Amendments and modifications may not involve a technical 
conflict with existing operation(s) or with application(s) filed prior 
to this sixty (60) day filing period. Applications for upgrades in 
facilities unrelated to proposed co-location with a wireless cable 
facility will not be accepted. In addition, curative amendments to 
otherwise defective applications will not be accepted for filing. 
Changes in facilities which fail to comply with the limitations set 
forth in this Public Notice will not be accepted for filing.
    3. On March 28, 1996, the Commission completed its auction of 
authorizations to provide single channel and multichannel Multipoint 
Distribution Service (collectively referred to as MDS) in 493 Basic 
Trading Areas (BTAs) and BTA-like areas. Many BTA authorization holders 
and incumbent wireless cable operators lease excess channel capacity 
from the ITFS licensees in the same service area, pursuant to Section 
74.931(e) of the Commission's Rules. The purpose of this Public Notice 
is to facilitate marketwide settlements and expedite the development of 
wireless cable services by permitting ITFS applicants and licensees to 
modify their applications or facilities to specify co-location with the 
facilities of a wireless cable operator which leases its ITFS channels. 
Therefore, amendments to pending applications, which were timely filed 
and substantially complete at the time of filing, and modification 
applications for changes in ITFS facilities will be accepted during the 
specified sixty (60) day filing period, provided that co-location with 
a wireless cable facility is proposed and the ITFS applicant or 
licensee has an executed channel lease agreement with the wireless 
cable operator. Applicants and licensees may also propose any changes 
in technical facilities in an effort to replicate those of the co-
located wireless cable facility.
    4. Applicants are requested to specify in an exhibit their 
protected service area (PSA) as follows. First, ITFS entities who lease 
excess channel capacity to an incumbent MDS operator (one authorized or 
proposed on or before September 15, 1995) should so state and specify 
the protected service area of the co-located wireless cable system, a 
fixed circle with a radius of 35 miles. Specifically, applicants are 
requested to provide the geographic latitude and longitude of the 
center of the PSA, which will not necessarily coincide with the 
proposed transmitting antenna site coordinates. Secondly, ITFS entities 
who lease excess capacity to a BTA holder should so state. In such 
cases the ITFS PSA will be a circular 35-mile protected service area 
centered at the transmitting antenna coordinates of the co-located MDS 
station, i.e., the site coordinates proposed in the application. An 
applicant's correct specification of its intended service area will 
facilitate the processing of the application and insure appropriate 
interference protection.
    5. To further facilitate the orderly and expeditious processing of 
these submissions, applicants and licensees filing amendments and 
modifications pursuant to this Public Notice are requested to use a 
completed ``cover sheet,'' identical to the cover sheet form attached 
to this Public Notice. In addition, all modification applications and 
amendments to pending applications must be substantially complete when 
tendered for filing.
    6. All filings in response to this Public Notice must be filed with 
the Secretary's Office, Federal Communications Commission, 1919 M 
Street, Room 222, Washington, D.C. 20054. See 47 CFR 0.401(a). Mailed 
modification applications and amendments to pending applications must 
be received by the Commission no later than December 23, 1996. Hand-
carried or courier-delivered ITFS filings can be delivered daily during 
the sixty day filing period at the Secretary's Office from 8:00 a.m. to 
5:30 p.m. Submissions tendered after 5:30 p.m. on Monday, December 23, 
1996, will not be accepted. Applicants are required to submit an 
original and two duplicate copies of the filing. To further facilitate 
the initial processing of these filings, all applicants are requested 
to enclose in a single envelope the original and duplicate copies of 
the filing, with each duplicate copy clearly denoted as such by the 
applicant. Where more than one application or amendment is being filed, 
separate envelopes enclosing the individual filings (i.e., an original 
and two copies) can be mailed in a single package. The Secretary's 
Office will provide date stamped copies of hand delivered filings upon 
request.
    7. Modification applications and amendments which do not comply 
with the limitations set forth in this Public Notice, or which are 
otherwise found to be defective, will be rejected and returned to the 
applicant.
    8. For further information concerning this sixty (60) day filing 
period, contact Charles P. Gratch or Joyce L. Bernstein, Video Services 
Division, Mass Media Bureau at (202) 418-1610.

Federal Communications Commission.
William F. Caton,
Acting Secretary.

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[FR Doc. 96-27568 Filed 10-25-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-C