TODAY'S NEWSLETTER SPONSOR


Communications Law Attorneys representing clients before the FCC, the federal courts, and other regulatory, and governmental agencies on communications matters.

Chip Grange & Wray Fitch
(703) 873-7349 - www.gg-law.com


BREAKING NEWS...
FCC SETS LPTV CHANNEL SHARING 
NPRM COMMENTS CYCLE



WHY THIS MATTERS?
The key reason this matters is that if LPTV is able to channel share with primaries, it both opens the door for investment into a new transmission plant using auction relo funds, and one that the LPTV licensee sharing could then use also.  Unless the FCC allows ATSC 1.0 and 8VSB as our repacking engineering methodology, we now predict there will be direct losses of top 25 market LPTV stations, where 50% of all of the LPTV and translator coverage pops reside. NAB lost in the courts over this same issue when trying to stay with census 2000 data instead of the updated 2010 census and new improved TV Study. The FCC won because it is using the better and newer mouse trap, then so should LPTV and translators.  We should get to use OFDM as defined within the ATSC 3.0 transport layer, or else get the darn standard submitted and passed...

 


IF AND YOUR COMPANY WANT TO BE LISTED IN THIS YEAR'S DIRECTORY AND SURVIVAL GUIDE PLEASE CHECK OUT THESE SPONSORSHIP OPTIONS.


MORE BREAKING NEWS...

FUTURE OF "T-BAND" 
PUT INTO PLAY WITH CONGRESS





WHY THIS MATTERS
There are 11 cities which use in total 14 Land Mobile Radio channels between UHF channels 14-20.  The FCC is suppose to move the LMR service by 2023.   from the article...

"Under the law, the FCC is required to "begin a system of competitive bidding" for the T-Band spectrum currently licensed to public-safety entities by March 2021. Public-safety licensees operating communications systems in the T-Band must relocate within two years after the auction process is completed, according to the statute. The law also stipulates that relocation of the public-safety systems will be funded with proceeds from the auction."



IF YOU ARE GOING TO THE APRIL NAB SHOW IN LAS VEGAS 
PLAN TO STOP BY AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT 
FOR LPTV AND TV TRANSLATORS!  

SPONSORED FOOD AND BAR, AND LOTS OF DOOR PRIZES.  

LAST YEAR WE HAD OVER 300 PEOPLE ATTEND, AND 
MORE THAN 20 SPONSORS FROM EQUIPMENT VENDORS, 
PRODUCT AND SERVICE PROVIDERS, PROGRAMMING 
NETWORKS, AND LICENSEES.





DOES PBS'S PROGRAMMING DESERVE A PRIORITY OVER WHAT YOU PRODUCE AND AIR?

DESPITE REPEATED REJECTIONS OF ANY PRIORITIES IN THE POST AUCTION REPACKING BASED ON THE CONTENT YOU AIR, THE PBS-AFFILIATED STATION GROUP OWNERS WANT IT

APTS, the group that represents the Public Broadcasting network affiliates which own the underlying stations and FCC licenses, is back again pleading with the FCC to exempt its' non-commercial station affiliates from the dreaded Vacant Channel showing, which would prohibit a new non-com educational station from filling in a coverage hole when another NCE sells in the auction.  Here is what APTS et al said to the FCC:

"...PTV urged the Commission to adjust the proposed exception for noncommercial educational ("NCE") broadcasters in the pending rulemaking on preservation of vacant channels in the UHF television band. In the event that the Commission adopts the proposed vacant channel demonstration requirement for post-auction allotment and modification proceedings, it is essential that low-power television translator stations licensed to NCE broadcasters be exempt in addition to full-power NCE stations in any communities that have lost noncommercial educational service as a result of the incentive auction. As the Commission acknowledges in the rulemaking, most of the "vacant" television channels after the auction will be available precisely because it is not possible to operate a full-power television station on such channels without causing harmful interference to other full-power stations. Consequently, the proposed exemption will be of very limited use in practice if limited to full-power NCE stations." 

Now, APTS goes on to tell the FCC that they should get even more priorities:

"While low-power television translator licenses are not designated as noncommercial or commercial, the Commission regularly distinguishes between translators licensed to noncommercial and commercial stations. The Commission's carriage rules provide unique must-carry rights to the "translator of any NCE television station with five watts or higher power serving the franchise area." In addition, the Commission has indicated that after the incentive auction it could waive the freeze on the filing of applications for new television translator stations specifically "to allow NCE licensees to promptly restore NCE service to a loss area." Therefore, the Commission can and should expand the proposed exception from the vacant channel demonstration requirement to include low-power television translators licensed to noncommercial educational broadcasters."

Ok, so what does this all mean?  Well it means that APTS, CPB, PBS are at the FCC fighting for a priority for their translators over others, and that their programming is of such national and community value that it should a priority over your locally produced news, community info, local sports, etc.  The last part of the letter says they are ok with "regional repacking" so that they are not left behind.  Hmm, let's see, they were part of that meeting last year with NAB and the wireless folks to work out how to get the spectrum to the buyers as fast as possible.  Looks like they are now cashing in their chips for making the "secret deal", which Class A's, and of course, LPTV, and the civic and indie translators were all excluded from...nice, maybe ethics and civics should be aired more on PBS.  We pushed hard last year to get primaries to be able to channel share with LPTV just so APTS could find stations to air PBS on.  

here is the Vacant Channel NPRM 

NAB LABS GETS INTO BED WITH THE GOO!




Coalition Commentary
What can I say, if NAB Labs/NAB want to hang with the Goo, especially since the Goo has built a disruptive new cable TV box, and NAB Labs wants some ad sales action via the Goo, well, go at it.  But what will NAB do now about the Vacant Channel proposed rulemaking?  Will NAB still stand up against the "Google Channels", as they have been doing, along with the Coalition?  Just to remind you all, the Goo is the main backer of giving it and Microsoft unlicensed spectrum across the country so that they can disrupt any business they choose.  But they are not disrupting LPTV and translators, they just want the spectrum we have licenses for and by which we fulfill a public service function. 



 
 


LPTV AFFILIATES WANTED NATIONWIDE
CLEARED IN SF, LA, CHICAGO, HOUSTON, DALLAS, FRESNO...




IF YOU DID NOT GET LAST YEAR'S NAB SHOW 
SPECIAL EDITION LPTV AND TV TRANSLATOR DIRECTORY, WELL HERE IT IS AS A PDF.




If you would like to be part of our collective effort to make sure LPTV and TV translators are treated fairly in the Incentive Auction and channel repacking JOIN US today!


Mike Gravino
Director
LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition
(202) 604-0747
lptvcoalition@gmail.com
http://www.lptvcoalition.com