[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 230 (Wednesday, December 1, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67267-67269]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-31115]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[DA 99-2605]


Mass Media Bureau Announces Window Filing Opportunity for Certain 
Pending Applications and Allotment Petitions for New Analog TV Stations

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This document announces a window filing opportunity to allow 
persons with certain pending requests for new analog (NTSC) television 
stations to modify their requests, if possible, to eliminate technical 
conflicts with digital television (DTV) stations and to move from 
channels 60 through 69. The term ``DTV stations'' here includes DTV 
allotments, authorized or requested increases in DTV allotment 
facilities and proposals for new or modified DTV allotments. The window 
shall open upon the release of this document and close on March 17, 
2000.

DATES: The window filing opportunity begins November 22, 1999, and 
closes March 17, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shaun Maher, Video Services Division, 
Mass Media Bureau at (202) 418-1600.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This window is available for (1) amendments 
(other than channel changes) to pending applications for new full-
service NTSC television stations on channel 2 through 59, (2) petitions 
for rule making seeking a new channel below channel 60 for those 
applicants with pending applications for new full-service NTSC 
television stations on channels 60 through 69 (in addition, authorized 
NTSC stations and DTV allotments on channels 60 through 69 can seek 
permission to relocate to a lower channel at any time, including during 
this filing window, if they can identify a suitable channel) (3) 
petitions for rule making seeking a new channel below channel 60 for 
those applicants with pending applications for new full-service NTSC 
television stations on channels 2 through 59 at locations inside of the 
``TV Freeze Areas'' and (4) amendments to pending rule making petitions 
to amend the TV Table of Allotments to add NTSC television allotments.
    All application amendments, petitions for rule making and 
amendments to petitions for rule making seeking a new NTSC channel must 
be filed during this window. Pursuant to the Commission's directive, we 
will thereafter dismiss all remaining applications on channels 60 
through 69, all freeze-area applications on channel 2 through 59 that 
conflict with a DTV station, and all rulemaking petitions requesting a 
channel above 59 or a channel that conflicts with a DTV station.
    In a related proceeding initiated on September 22, 1999, the 
Commission is considering the creation of a new ``Class A'' television 
service, providing some elements of primary status for some low power 
TV (LPTV) stations. See Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, MM Docket No. 
99-292, 64 FR 56999 (10/22/99). A question is posed in that proceeding 
about whether protection should be afforded to NTSC applications and 
rule making petitions that are pending when the new Class A rules take 
effect. If the Commission decides in that proceeding that pending NTSC 
applications and rule making petitions are not to be protected from new 
Class A stations, and Class A stations are created that conflict with 
such pending applications or rule making petitions, those NTSC 
applications and rule making petitions would be dismissed or denied. If 
the Commission decides that the pending NTSC proposals have priority, 
applicants for Class A licenses could be required to protect these 
service proposals.

Background

    This window filing opportunity is available only to (1) those 
persons who filed petitions for rule making on or before July 25, 1996, 
to add an NTSC channel to the TV Table of Allotments, and (2) persons 
with applications for new full-service NTSC television stations that 
were filed on or before September 20, 1996, or applications filed after 
that date in response to a valid cutoff list. These were the deadlines 
that the Commission set in its DTV Sixth Further Notice of Proposed 
Rule Making for the filing of rulemaking petitions to add channels to 
the TV Table of Allotments and new applications for analog stations on 
vacant allotments. See Advanced Television Systems and Their Impact 
Upon the Existing Television Broadcast Service, Sixth Further Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking, 61 FR 43209 (8/21/96) (Sixth Further Notice). In 
that Sixth Further Notice, the Commission indicated that petitions for 
rule making that had been filed and open rule making proceedings would 
be addressed on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the impact on 
the draft DTV allotment table.
    On January 6, 1998, the Commission issued a Report and Order in ET 
Docket No. 97-157 wherein it reallocated the 746-806 MHz band 
(television channels 60 through 69) for public safety use and 
commercial fixed, mobile and broadcasting services. See Reallocation of 
Television Channels 60-69, the 746-806 MHz Band, Report and Order, 63 
FR 06669 (2/10/98) (Report and Order). In that Report and Order, the 
Commission acknowledged that there were pending applications for new 
NTSC television stations on pre-existing channel 60-69 allotments and 
also petitions for rulemaking to add new allotments on these channels 
to the TV allotment table. The Commission decided to not authorize any 
more new full-service NTSC television stations on channels 60 through 
69. Nevertheless, it recognized that those persons with pending 
applications and/or petitions for new full-service NTSC television 
stations on those channels had already invested time, money and effort 
into their applications and petitions. Therefore, the Commission stated 
that it would not summarily terminate the pending applications and 
petitions, and it would, at a later date, provide applicants and 
petitioners an opportunity to amend their applications and petitions, 
if possible, to a channel below channel 60.
    On December 18, 1998, the Commission issued a Second Memorandum 
Opinion and Order in MM Docket No. 87-268 wherein it addressed 
petitions for reconsideration of its earlier decisions in the DTV 
proceeding. See Advanced Television Systems and Their Impact Upon the 
Existing Television Broadcast Service, Second Memorandum Opinion and 
Order on Reconsideration of the Fifth and Sixth Report and Order, 63 FR 
13546 (3/20/98) (Second MO&O). The Commission acknowledged that there 
were pending applications for new NTSC television stations at locations 
for which the Commission had previously frozen the acceptance of 
applications in order to preserve spectrum for DTV use (TV freeze 
areas). The Commission had previously not protected these freeze-area 
applications in the development of the DTV Table of Allotments. 
Nevertheless, the Commission believed that it was desirable to provide 
freeze-area applicants with the option to pursue their applications 
wherever such

[[Page 67268]]

application would not conflict with NTSC or DTV stations. Therefore, 
the Commission stated that it would allow freeze-area applicants whose 
applications conflict with DTV stations to request a change in their 
requested NTSC channel or to amend their application to eliminate all 
such conflicts.

Amendments to Applications (Excluding Channel Changes)

    All applicants that are part of a single mutually exclusive (MX) 
group because their applications now seek the use of the same channel 
allotment (below 60) must decide as a group whether to pursue a channel 
change through the petition for rule making process. Members of an MX 
group that have chosen to remain on their allotted channel may file a 
settlement agreement with a single corrective amendment to the proposed 
surviving application. Members of an MX group that do not file a 
settlement agreement and do not jointly request a channel change in a 
rule making petition, must each amend their application to eliminate 
any technical conflict with DTV stations.
    Each application amendment filed during this window opportunity 
must conform with all pertinent legal and technical requirements, 
including criteria for interference protection to both NTSC and DTV 
services. Application amendments must meet the minimum distance 
separations between NTSC stations (47 CFR 73.610) and must protect DTV 
stations as provided in Sec. 73.623(c), but without any allowance to 
create de minimis interference as defined in Sec. 73.623(c)(2). As 
indicated, the term ``DTV stations'' here includes DTV authorizations, 
applications, allotments and rule making proposals. November 1, 1999 
was the scheduled due date for most commercial television stations to 
file DTV construction permit applications. The Mass Media Bureau is 
currently entering into its computer database the many applications 
that were filed and expects to complete this entry by the end of the 
year.
    Application amendments may include changes in the ERP, directional 
antenna pattern, antenna height or site location requested in the 
application. Application amendments may also request DTV operation, as 
the Commission indicated in paragraph 41 of the Second MO&O. An 
application amendment to specify DTV operation will be evaluated under 
the criteria for changing an initial DTV allotment set forth in 
Sec. 73.622(a) of the rules. Specifically, the channel may be in the 
range from 2 through 59, and DTV and NTSC stations must be protected by 
meeting the engineering criteria of Sec. 73.623(c) of the rules. 
Applying these criteria is consistent with the Commission action in the 
Memorandum Opinion and Order on Reconsideration of the Fifth Report and 
Order that allows these stations to be converted to DTV operation, even 
if their channel is outside the core range of 2 through 51. See 
Advanced Television Systems and Their Impact Upon the Existing 
Television Broadcast Service, Memorandum Opinion and Order on 
Reconsideration of the Fifth Report and Order, 63 FR 15774 (4/1/98) 
(Memorandum Opinion and Order on Reconsideration of the Fifth Report 
and Order).

Petitions for Rule Making To Specify a New Channel or Amendments of 
Petitions

    A change of an NTSC allotment channel must be requested by filing a 
petition for rule making seeking such a change. A channel change may 
not be requested through an amendment to a pending application. 
However, there are 2 applications (for channel 64 in Charlottesville, 
VA) that have been through an extended process of comparative hearing, 
court appeal, and remand to the Commission. They currently have pending 
a settlement agreement and an application amendment that specify a 
different channel. Because of the age and unique history of those 
applications and because they are currently before the Commission, the 
Bureau will not require the filing of a rule making petition. 
Rulemaking petitions or amendments to pending petitions must retain the 
community of license specified in the pending television application or 
rulemaking petition.
    Such petitions for rule making filed during this window by freeze-
area applicants on channels below 60 must also demonstrate that 
interference to a DTV station (which could be a DTV allotment, a 
proposed change in a DTV allotment, or an application to change a DTV 
station's facilities) would be caused if the requested channel change 
is not made. Such a petition may request a DTV channel as the 
replacement for the NTSC channel allotment, as the Commission indicated 
in paragraph 42 of the Second MO&O. A petition seeking a DTV allotment 
under these circumstances will be evaluated under the criteria for 
changing an initial DTV allotment set forth in Sec. 73.622(a) of the 
rules. Specifically, the channel may be in the range from 2 through 59, 
and DTV and NTSC stations must be protected by meeting the engineering 
criteria of Sec. 73.623(c) of the rules.
    Where multiple applications have been filed for a single NTSC 
channel allotment, a petition for rulemaking must propose a single 
replacement channel (below 60), to which all applicants agree to modify 
their applications.
    Persons with pending rulemaking petitions for channels 60 through 
69 should amend their petitions to specify a channel below channel 60. 
Persons with pending rulemaking petitions for channels 2 through 59 
should amend their petitions to specify a different channel below 
channel 60 if their requested channel is in conflict with a DTV 
station. New and amended rulemaking petitions submitted during this 
window filing opportunity will be subject to our normal notice and 
comment procedures. However, as the Commission indicated in the Sixth 
Further Notice and reiterated in the Second MO&O, new proposals for 
additional NTSC channel allotments will not be accepted. Therefore, new 
parties may not counterpropose a new NTSC allotment in the same or 
nearby communities. The opportunity for filing counterproposals is 
limited to those parties with existing petitions and applications that 
are the subject of this filing window. When a rule making proceeding 
has been started by a Notice of Proposed Rule Making, conflicting 
proposals must be filed in initial comments, pursuant to the procedures 
for consideration of counterproposals. Rulemaking petitions and 
amendments to pending petitions filed during this window opportunity 
must conform with all pertinent legal and technical requirements, 
including pertinent criteria for interference protection to NTSC and 
DTV services. Allotment proposals must meet the minimum distance 
separations between NTSC stations (47 CFR 73.610). Petitions to change 
the channel of an existing allotment must protect DTV stations as 
provided in Sec. 73.623(c), but without any allowance to create de 
minimis interference as defined in Sec. 73.623(c)(2). Amendments to 
existing petitions to add a new NTSC channel allotment must meet the 
minimum distance separations to DTV stations as provided in 
Sec. 73.623(d). As indicated above, the term ``DTV stations'' here 
includes DTV authorizations, applications, allotments and proposals. 
November 1, 1999 was the scheduled due date for most commercial 
television stations to file DTV construction permit applications. The 
Mass Media Bureau is currently entering into its computer database the 
many applications that were filed and

[[Page 67269]]

expects to complete this entry by the end of the year.
    In developing proposed amendments to the allotment table, 
petitioners are advised that they should consider, to the extent 
possible, authorized LPTV and TV translator stations. An allotment 
Report and Order that adds a new channel to the NTSC table of 
allotments will specify a period of time for the filing of applications 
(using FCC Form 301) for a new NTSC TV station construction permit.
    Associated applications will remain pending as long as there is 
pending a petition for rulemaking seeking an alternate channel. An 
allotment Report and Order changing a channel allotment will specify a 
period of time for the filing of amendments to pending applications 
(using FCC Form 301), for the modified channel allotment. Such 
amendments to pending applications will be considered minor and the 
applications will retain their original file numbers.

MX Group Resolution

    To encourage settlements among mutually exclusive applicants, we 
will waive for this special window filing opportunity the rule that 
limits reimbursements of applicants to legitimate and prudent expenses. 
See 47 CFR 73.3525(a)(3). Those applications for particular commercial 
channel allotments below 60 that continue to be mutually exclusive 
after the completion of the amendment process will be resolved by use 
of the Commission's new broadcast competitive bidding rules. Consistent 
with those rules, wherever two or more applications were pending for 
the same allotment before July 1997, the group is closed and no 
additional applications for the allotment (on the new channel) will be 
accepted. Wherever a single application was pending for an allotment 
before July 1997, and that application has not been ``cutoff'' against 
the filing of competing applications, the application (as amended) will 
be subject to competing applications in accordance with the 
Commission's auction filing window procedures to be announced at a 
later date.

Federal Communications Commission.
Magalie Roman Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-31115 Filed 11-30-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P