[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 2, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 4923-4927]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-2143]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 73

[ET Docket No. 00-11; FCC 00-17]


Establishment of an Improved Model for Predicting the Broadcast 
Television Field Strength Received at Individual Locations

AGENCY:  Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION:  Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY:  This document requests comment on a proposed prediction model 
for determining presumptively the ability of individual locations to 
receive over-the-air television signals broadcast by local television 
stations. The Commission believes this model will be a useful means for 
establishing the eligibility of individual households to receive the 
signals of television broadcast network stations through satellite 
carriers. The Commission is complying with new statutory requirements 
set forth in the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999.

DATES:  Comments must be received on or before February 22, 2000, and 
reply comments on or before March 7, 2000.

ADDRESSES:  All filings must be sent to the Commission's Secretary, 
Magalie Roman Salas, Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications 
Commission, 445 12th Street, SW, TW-A325, Washington, DC 20554.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Robert Eckert, Office of Engineering 
and Technology, (202-418-2433).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  This is a summary of the Commission's 
Notice of Proposed Rule Making in ET Docket No. 00-11, FCC 00-17, 
adopted January 13, 2000, and released January 20, 2000. The full text 
of this Commission decision is available for inspection and copying 
during normal business hours in the FCC Reference Center (Room CY-
A257), 445 12th Street, SW, Washington, DC, and also may be purchased 
from the Commission's copy contractor, International Transcription 
Services, Inc., (202) 857-3800, 1231 20th Street, NW, Washington, DC 
20036.

Summary of the Notice of Proposed Rule Making

    1. In the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM), the Commission 
proposes rules prescribing a point-to-point predictive model for 
determining the ability of individual locations to receive an over-the-
air television broadcast signal of a specific intensity through the use 
of a conventional, stationary, outdoor rooftop receiving antenna. Our 
goal in developing this model is to provide a means for reliably and 
presumptively determining whether the over-the-air signals of network 
affiliated television stations can be received at individual locations. 
Such determinations are used in establishing the eligibility of 
individual households to receive the signals of television broadcast 
network stations by satellite carriers. In issuing this proposal, we 
are complying with new statutory requirements set forth in the 
Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 (SHVIA). The signal 
intensity for determining eligibility is the Grade B standard set forth 
in Sec. 73.683(a) of the Commission's rules.
    2. The SHVIA revises and extends statutory provisions established 
by Congress in the 1988 Satellite Home Viewer Act (SHVA). With regard 
to prediction of signal availability, the SHVIA adds a new section 
339(c)(3) to the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, which requires 
that ``[W]ithin 180 days after the date of enactment of the Satellite 
Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999, the Commission shall take all 
actions necessary, including any reconsideration, to develop and 
prescribe by rule a point-to-point predictive model for reliably and 
presumptively determining the ability of individual locations to 
receive signals in accordance with the signal intensity standard in 
effect under section 119(d)(10)(A) of title 17, United States Code.'' 
Section 339(c)(3) further provides that ``[I]n prescribing such a 
model, the Commission shall rely on the Individual Location Longley-
Rice model set forth by the Federal Communications Commission in Docket 
No. 98-201, and ensure that such model takes into account terrain, 
building structures, and other land cover variations. The Commission 
shall establish procedures for the continued refinement in the 
application of the model by the use of additional data as it becomes 
available.'' The SHVIA also requires that the courts rely on the 
Individual Location Longley Rice model established by the Commission 
for making presumptive determinations of whether a household is capable 
of receiving broadcast television signals of Grade B intensity.
    3. In its Report and Order in CS Docket No. 98-201, 64 FR 7113 
(February 12, 1999), (SHVA Report and Order), the Commission endorsed 
the use of a specific model for predicting signal strength at 
individual locations. This model, which the Commission termed 
``Individual Location Longley-Rice'' or ``ILLR,'' is a version of 
Longley-Rice 1.2.2. The Commission recommended that the ILLR model be 
used for determining a presumption of service or lack of service by 
local over-the-air television signals at individual locations for 
purposes of establishing a household's eligibility to receive network 
television programming by satellite carriers under the SHVA.
    4. The Commission found that vegetation and buildings affect signal 
intensity at individual locations. However, it also found that at the 
time of the SHVA Report and Order, there was no standard means of 
including

[[Page 4924]]

such information in the ILLR that had been accepted by the technical 
and scientific community. The Commission therefore stated that land use 
and cover information will be included in the ILLR when an appropriate 
method for using such information in the context of determining the 
field strength of broadcast television signals at individual locations 
has been developed and accepted. In its Order on Reconsideration in CS 
Docket 98-201, 64 FR 73429 (December 30, 1999), the Commission denied 
DirecTV's petition for reconsideration, in part, on the basis that it 
failed to provide the information and details necessary to evaluate an 
application to consider land use and cover in the ILLR.
    5. Subsequent to the SHVA Report and Order, the ILLR has been 
implemented by several commercial companies as a tool for determining 
whether particular households, identified by street address, are served 
or unserved for purposes of the SHVA. Providers of programming service 
by satellite carriers are screening potential customers for eligibility 
at the point-of-sale using the ILLR model.
    6. Following the direction of Congress in the SHVIA, we are 
proposing to define an improved model for predicting the field strength 
produced by a television network affiliate broadcasting station at 
individual locations, using as a guide the ILLR model as described in 
the SHVA Report and Order. This model would be incorporated into our 
rules as the required method for making presumptive determinations of 
individual household's eligibility for satellite retransmission of 
distant network signals. The prediction model we are proposing takes 
into account terrain, building structures, and other land cover 
variations, some of which are yet to be evaluated and accepted by the 
scientific and technical community. We therefore are also outlining a 
process through which values can be developed for these parameters. 
This process provides for continued refinement of the model on the 
basis of reliable technical evidence, as it becomes available.

A. The Current ILLR Prediction Model

    7. The current ILLR model is the version of Longley-Rice 1.2.2 that 
we endorsed in the SHVA Report and Order. It is similar to the point-
to-point predictive model we established for digital television (DTV) 
coverage and interference prediction. The ILLR model does not replace 
the current Commission rules for field strength contours (Sec. 73.683) 
or prediction of coverage for non-SHVA purposes (Sec. 73.684). In fact, 
the ILLR model may identify unserved households lying within a 
station's Grade B contour and may, likewise, identify served households 
outside a Grade B contour.
    8. In Appendix A, we specify the technical details that are to be 
used with Longley-Rice 1.2.2 to qualify the latter as the ILLR model 
required under the SHVIA. The SHVA Report and Order left some of these 
details to choice since it offered ILLR only as a means to make 
administration of the unserved household rule under SHVA easier and 
more cost-effective. Here, some of the Longley-Rice 1.2.2 input 
parameters have values different from those utilized for application of 
the model to DTV.

B. Improvements in the Model

    9. We propose to improve the ILLR model by adding clutter loss 
parameters. The clutter loss includes the effects of both vegetation 
and buildings and is dependent upon the environment of the individual 
household reception point. Reception point environments are to be 
classified in terms of the codes used in the Land Use and Land Cover 
(LULC) database of the United States Geological Survey, and clutter 
loss values are to be added to the radio propagation loss predicted by 
basic Longley-Rice 1.2.2.
    10. To simplify use of the database for ILLR purposes, we have 
reorganized the LULC categories in a way specifically relevant to radio 
propagation. After regrouping, we identify 10 environmental classes, 
almost all of which are combinations of several of the original LULC 
categories. Since many of the original LULC categories distinguish 
between environments in ways that are unimportant for propagation 
prediction, it is clear that simplification is in order. The particular 
simplification we are proposing for the ILLR is defined in Appendix A 
along with other details of the ILLR model. This simplification is the 
same as a classification system currently under consideration by an 
industry standardization committee.
    11. In the improved ILLR model, it is contemplated that a clutter 
loss value (a reduction in available signal intensity) will be 
associated with each and every LULC classification in a way that is 
also dependent upon frequency. However, the available data for 
assigning values to these parameters is limited, and we believe it is 
reasonable to assign values only in situations for which measurement 
data have been analyzed and published, or for which we have some 
confidence in deriving such values. We are basing the ILLR table of 
clutter loss on the results published in a recent engineering journal 
by Thomas N. Rubinstein. Since the Rubinstein values of clutter loss 
are derived exclusively from measurements made at receiver sites with 
Fresnel clearance, the values should apply only to matching situations. 
For other situations, the clutter loss will have to remain equal to the 
default value of zero dB, the value it effectively has in the current 
ILLR model where LULC data is not used. We recognize that, under this 
approach, the number of situations in which clutter loss may be taken 
into account will be limited. We therefore request comment on whether 
other data are available that would allow us to expand the application 
of clutter loss considerations, and whether there are other approaches 
that are scientifically supported and could be integrated into the ILLR 
model to take into account losses due to vegetation and man-made 
structures.
    12. It is particularly problematic that the Rubinstein table of 
losses does not cover low band VHF television, channels 2 through 5, so 
that no clutter loss can be assigned to reception on these channels 
without introducing an exception to our principle of not assigning 
values unless measurement data have been analyzed and published for 
matching situations. We are proposing to address this problem by using 
clutter loss values for low band channels that are derived by applying 
frequency trend data to the Rubinstein clutter loss values for high 
band VHF. The frequency trend we have applied is that found by Okumura. 
The low band values obtained in this way are tabulated in Appendix A. 
Comments are requested on the acceptability of this approach.

C. Procedures for Continued Refinement

    13. Because of copyright law implications addressed by the SHVIA, 
we believe that formal rule making is appropriate to make changes in 
the future in the ILLR model that we adopt in this proceeding. We seek 
comment on this proposed procedure and any other suggestions for 
revising the ILLR in a timely fashion.

D. Designation of Neutral and Independent Entity for Signal Tests 
Purposes

    14. In addition to requiring that the Commission conduct a rule 
making to improve the ILLR predictive model, section 339 prescribes 
procedures for selecting a qualified, independent person to test the 
signal at a household. In particular, section 339(c)(4)(B) provides:

    If the satellite carrier and the network station or stations 
asserting that the retransmission [of a signal of a distant

[[Page 4925]]

network station] is prohibited are unable to agree on such a person 
to conduct the test, the person shall be designated by an 
independent and neutral entity designated by the Commission by rule.

    15. We seek comment on how to identify qualified entities as 
candidates to fulfill this legislative requirement. What types of 
qualifications should such an entity possess? Are there industry 
testing labs in existence that could fill this role? What 
characteristics will demonstrate the independence and neutrality 
contemplated by the statute? Should there be multiple designating 
entities across the country or one central clearinghouse?
    16. We recognize the importance of completing the proceeding to 
determine the designated tester as quickly as possible and, therefore, 
include this issue in this expedited proceeding to revise the ILLR.

Appendix A--Technical Data

    This appendix specifies technical details and input parameters 
that are to be used with Longley-Rice Version 1.2.2 to qualify the 
latter as the Individual Location Longley-Rice (ILLR) propagation 
prediction model per Sec. 73.683(d) of the FCC rules. The method for 
including Land Use and Land Clutter (LULC) classifications of 
locations with attributed clutter loss values is defined here. This 
appendix will be republished as OET Bulletin No. 70 and included in 
FCC rules by reference.
    Computer code for the Longley-Rice radio propagation prediction 
model is published in an appendix of NTIA Report 82-100, A Guide to 
the Use of the ITS Irregular Terrain Model in the Area Prediction 
Mode, authors G.A. Hufford, A.G. Longley and W.A. Kissick, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, April 1982. The report may be obtained from 
the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Technical Information 
Service, Springfield, Virginia, by requesting Accession No. PB 82-
217977. Some modifications to the code were described by G.A. 
Hufford in a memorandum to users of the model dated January 30, 
1985. With these modifications, the code is referred to as Version 
1.2.2 of the Longley-Rice model. It is available for downloading at 
the U.S. Department of Commerce Web site, http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/itm.html>.
    When run under the conditions given in Table 1, the Longley-Rice 
model becomes the ILLR per Sec. 73.683(d) of the FCC rules. Note 
especially the following unique features of the ILLR prediction 
procedure (they distinguish the ILLR model from, for instance, the 
use of Longley-Rice for digital television coverage and interference 
calculations as detailed in OET Bulletin No. 69):
     The time variability factor is 50% presuming that the 
ILLR field strength prediction is to be compared with a required 
field (the Grade B field intensity defined in Sec. 73.683(d) of the 
FCC rules) that already includes an allowance for long term (daily 
and seasonal) time fading;
     The confidence variability factor is 50% indicating 
median situations;
     The model is run in individual mode;
     Terrain elevation is considered every \1/10\ of a 
kilometer;
     Receiving antenna height is assumed to be 6 m (20 feet) 
above ground for one-story buildings and 9 m (30 feet) above ground 
for buildings taller than one-story;
     Where error codes indicate a severe error, the field 
strength is deemed inadequate for TV service;
     Land use and land cover (e.g., vegetation and 
buildings) considerations are included.
    The field strength of a network TV station at an individual 
location is predicted as follows:
    (1) Find engineering data for the network affiliate station of 
interest by, for example, consulting the FCC Web site at (http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/vsd/). Necessary data are station latitude and 
longitude, height above mean sea level of the radiation center, and 
the effective radiated power (ERP) in the direction of the 
individual location under study.
    (2) Run Longley-Rice 1.2.2 in the point-to-point mode with the 
parameters specified in Table 1 to find the propagation path loss 
relative to free space propagation.
    (3) Examine the path terrain profile and direct ray from the 
transmitter radiation center to the 6- or 9-meter receiving point to 
determine whether the ray clears by at least 0.6 of the radius of 
the first Fresnel zone. If not, the ILLR Clutter Loss is 0 dB and 
steps 4 and 5 should be omitted.
    (4) Find the USGS Land Use and Land Cover classification of the 
individual location under study by consulting the LULC database, 
available from the USGS web page http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/glis/
hyper/guide/1__250__lulc>.
    (5) Convert the USGS Land Use and Land Cover classification to 
the corresponding ILLR category using Table 2, and find the 
associated clutter loss from Table 3.
    (6) Finally, calculate the ILLR field strength prediction from 
the formula

Field = (Free Space Field) - (Longley-Rice 1.2.2 Path Loss) - (ILLR 
Clutter Loss)

where the Free Space Field in dB = 
106.92 + 10log10(ERP) - 20log10(distance), and 
distance is the path length in kilometers from transmitter to the 
individual location under study.
    HG(1) in Table 1 is the height of the radiation center above 
ground. It is determined by subtracting the ground elevation above 
mean sea level (AMSL) at the transmitter location from the height of 
the radiation center AMSL. The latter may be found in the FCC's TV 
Engineering Data Base while the former is retrieved from the terrain 
elevation data base as a function of the transmitter site 
coordinates also found in the TV Engineering Data Base.
    Terrain elevation data at uniformly spaced points between the 
transmitter and receiver must be provided. The ILLR computer program 
must be linked to a terrain elevation data base with values every 3 
arc-seconds of latitude and longitude or closer. The program should 
retrieve elevations from this data base at regular intervals with a 
spacing increment of 0.1 kilometer (parameter XI in Table 1). The 
elevation of a point of interest is determined by linear 
interpolation of the values retrieved for the corners of the 
coordinate rectangle in which the point of interest lies.

               Table 1.--Parameter Values for ILLR Implementation of the Longley-Rice Fortran Code
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                Parameter                                    Value                         Meaning/comment
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EPS......................................  15.0....................................  Relative permittivity of
                                                                                      ground.
SGM......................................  0.005...................................  Ground conductivity,
                                                                                      Siemens per meter.
ZSYS.....................................  0.0.....................................  Coordinated with setting of
                                                                                      EN0. See page 72 of NTIA
                                                                                      Report.
EN0......................................  301.0...................................  Surface refractivity in N-
                                                                                      units (parts per million).
IPOL.....................................  0.......................................  Denotes horizontal
                                                                                      polarization.
MDVAR....................................  1.......................................  Code 1 sets individual mode
                                                                                      of variability
                                                                                      calculations.
KLIM.....................................  5.......................................  Climate code 5 for
                                                                                      continental temperate.
XI.......................................  0.1 m...................................  Distance between successive
                                                                                      points along the radial
                                                                                      from transmitter to
                                                                                      individual reception
                                                                                      point.
HG(1)....................................  See text................................  Height of the radiation
                                                                                      center above ground.
HG(2)....................................  6m, or 9 m..............................  Height of TV receiving
                                                                                      antenna above ground. Use
                                                                                      6 m for one-story
                                                                                      building; otherwise 9 m.
KWX......................................  Numeric error marker....................  KWX is an output indicating
                                                                                      the severity of a possible
                                                                                      error due to parameters
                                                                                      being out of range. Accept
                                                                                      the field strength
                                                                                      prediction when KWX equals
                                                                                      0 or 1, otherwise (KWX =
                                                                                      2, 3, or 4) presume the
                                                                                      field is inadequate for TV
                                                                                      reception.
LULC Category............................  1 to 10.................................  This parameter is added to
                                                                                      Longley-Rice for ILLR
                                                                                      purposes. See Tables 2 and
                                                                                      3.
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[[Page 4926]]


      Table 2.--Regrouping of LULC Categories for ILLR Applications
[The United States Geological Survey (USGS) maintains a database on land
 use and land cover indicating features such as vegetation and man-made
 structures. It is often called the LULC database and is available from
 the USGS web page at http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/glis/hyper/guide/1; 250;
                                  lulc)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           ILLR
      LULC        LULC classification    clutter        ILLR clutter
 classification       description        category   category description
     number                               number
------------------------------------------------------------------------
11.............  Residential.........            7  Residential.
12.............  Commercial and                  9  Commercial/
                  services.                          industrial.
13.............  Industrial..........            9  Commercial/
                                                     industrial.
14.............  Transportation,                 1  Open land.
                  communications, &
                  utilities.
15.............  Industrial and                  9  Commercial/
                  commercial                         industrial.
                  complexes.
16.............  Mixed urban and                 8  Mixed urban/
                  built-up lands.                    buildings.
17.............  Other urban and                 8  Mixed urban/
                  built-up land.                     buildings.
21.............  Cropland and pasture            2  Agricultural.
22.............  Orchards, groves,               2  Agricultural.
                  vineyards,
                  nurseries, and
                  horticultural.
23.............  Confined feeding                2  Agricultural.
                  operations.
24.............  Other agricultural              2  Agricultural.
                  land.
31.............  Herbaceous rangeland            3  Rangeland.
32.............  Shrub and brush                 3  Rangeland.
                  rangeland.
33.............  Mixed rangeland.....            3  Rangeland.
41.............  Deciduous forest                5  Forest land.
                  land.
42.............  Evergreen forest                5  Forest land.
                  land.
43.............  Mixed forest land...            5  Forest land.
51.............  Streams and canals..            4  Water.
52.............  Lakes...............            4  Water.
53.............  Reservoirs..........            4  Water.
54.............  Bays and estuaries..            4  Water.
61.............  Forested wetland....            5  Forest land.
62.............  Non-forest wetland..            6  Wetland.
71.............  Dry salt flats......            1  Open land.
72.............  Beaches.............            1  Open land.
73.............  Sandy areas other               1  Open land.
                  than beaches.
74.............  Bare exposed rock...            1  Open land.
75.............  Strip mines,                    1  Open land.
                  quarries, and
                  gravel pits.
76.............  Transitional areas..            1  Open land.
77.............  Mixed barren land...            1  Open land.
81.............  Shrub and brush                 1  Open land.
                  tundra.
82.............  Herbaceous tundra...            1  Open land.
83.............  Bare ground.........            1  Open land.
84.............  Wet tundra..........            1  Open land.
85.............  Mixed tundra........            1  Open land.
91.............  Perennial snowfields           10  Snow & ice.
92.............  Glaciers............           10  Snow & ice.
------------------------------------------------------------------------


                Table 3.--Clutter Loss as a Function of ILLR LULC Clutter Category and TV Channel
[Clutter loss values in this table have been estimated based on the test data published by Thomas N. Rubinstein,
    ``Clutter Losses and Environmental Noise Characteristics Associated with Various LULC Categories,'' IEEE
    Transactions on Broadcasting, Vol. 44, No. 3, September 1998. Values for low band VHF have been added by
   extrapolation from higher frequencies using frequency trends developed by Okumura, Yoshihisa et al, ``Field
Strength and its Variability in VHF and UHF Land Mobile Radio Service,'' Rev. Electrical Comm Lab, Vol. 16, Sept-
                                             Oct 1968, pp 825-873.]
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                                                                 Clutter Loss--dB to be added to Longley-Rice
                                                               prediction of path loss provided the path profile
                                                                          shows 0.6 Fresnel clearance
   ILLR clutter category          ILLR clutter category      ---------------------------------------------------
           number                      description              Low band    High band           UHF band
                                                                  VHF,         VHF,    -------------------------
                                                              channels 2-  channels 7-  Channels 14- Channels 38-
                                                                   5            13           36           69
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1..........................  Open Land......................            6            7           12           16
2..........................  Agricultural...................            7            8           14           18
3..........................  Rangeland......................            7            9           10           19
4..........................  Water..........................            0            0            0            0
5..........................  Forest Land....................            7            8           16           25
6..........................  Wetland........................            0            0            0            0
7..........................  Residential....................           10           12           16           21
8..........................  Mixed Urban/Buildings..........           10           15           17           18
9..........................  Commercial/Industrial..........           10           15           15           17
10.........................  Snow and Ice...................            0            0            0            0
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[[Page 4927]]

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 73

    Television.

Federal Communications Commission.
Magalie Roman Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 00-2143 Filed 2-1-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P