Dielectric is preparing for brisk business in the final stretch of the FCC’s Broadcast Incentive Auction, or spectrum repack, which will relocate displaced low-power TV, TV translator and FM stations to new frequencies by […]
The FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau has denied the second petition to delay the C-band spectrum repack and auction mandated in the 3.7 GHz Report and Order.
The FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau have determined the amount of relocation funds they will give to qualified low-power TV stations and translators impacted by the broadcast incentive auction repack and said they will get 85% of that money out ASAP.
Vendors see the end of a long RF repack process ahead with FCC deadlines being met, sometimes assisted by Special Temporary Authorities and interim transmission facilities. RF vendors are now looking to other revenue opportunities as the repack slows down. (Dielectric photo)
Currently in Phase 7 of its broadcast incentive auction repack, the FCC said that as of Dec. 6, 697 of 987 stations being repacked (71%) have moved off their pre-auction channels, with 79% of those having fully transitioned to permanent facilities.
The FCC’s repack of 1,000 TV stations into smaller spectrum quarters is almost two-thirds of the way to completion, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told a Senate oversight hearing audience Thursday (Oct. 17), and has proven to be a smooth transition.
Exclusives
The FCC has extended phase 5 of its post-incentive auction repack because it includes some areas potentially in the path of Hurricane Dorian. Phase 5, which was to have concluded Sept. 6, includes stations in North and South Carolina.
Broadcasters’ most technically challenging project enters its final year.
Phase 2 of the FCC’s 10-phase schedule to move stations to new frequencies following the FCC’s incentive auction went fairly smoothly according to both the FCC and vendors involved in getting the necessary new equipment in place. Out of 115 stations slated to move in Phase 2, only 13 missed the April 12 deadline and, of those, four have since made the transition. The FCC grants of phase changes and STAs are helping keep the repack on track, says Don Doty of tower firm Stainless. “I have to compliment a government agency that said it was going to be flexible and then followed through.”
WMYD Detroit Announces June 1 Rescan Date
Scripps-owned independent WMYD Detroit is moving frequencies on June 1 at midnight. Viewers who watch TV with an over-the-air antenna will need to rescan their TVs to continue watching the […]
FCC Waives Some Quarterly Repack Reports
Thursday afternoon the FCC waived certain quarterly Transition Progress Report requirements for stations in phases 3, 5 and 8 of the post-auction repack process.
The commission authorizes the reimbursement of low-power television, TV translator and FM broadcast stations for costs incurred as a result of the broadcast television spectrum incentive auction repack.
Dark Clouds Looming For TV Repack
By most accounts, transmitter manufacturers and suppliers of antennas and RF components are doing a good job so far of keeping up with the rapid spike in demand caused by the repack. But weather problems are causing major problems for tower crews and delaying a growing number of projects. And repack insiders fear a more significant backup this summer and fall.
The FCC has released its status report on the post-broadcast incentive auction TV station repack, which involves most of 1,000 full-powers and 2,000 low-powers in a 10-phase plan, and as FCC Chairman Ajit Pai signaled last week, the commission is ahead of schedule. It is also making available more money for the TV station transition.
Noncommercial TV stations want the FCC to let them spend the money on a post-incentive auction repack campaign funded by Congress in the Ray Baum’s FCC reauthorization act. That would include coordinating the campaign for both noncommercial and commercial stations.
On Friday, Nov. 30, broadcasters in the first of a 10-phase post incentive auction repack must have completed their move to new channels and ceased broadcasting on their pre-transition channels. Phase two begins Dec. 1. According to the FCC, more than 140 TV stations in over 20 markets will have moved frequencies when phase one is over.
FCC Offers LPTV Repack Reimbursement Schedule
The FCC has invited comments on a “catalog” of categories and amounts it thinks are reasonable for reimbursement of expenses incurred by low-power TV stations as a result of involuntary channel changes imposed by the post-incentive auction repacking of the TV spectrum.
In March 2017, DTV Utah began plans on repacking six of its eight stations that were required to change frequencies as a result of the spectrum auction. DTV Utah is a television transmitter site located in the Oquirrh Mountains above Salt Lake City and was the location of a complex, channel repack project involving nine UHF television stations, with eight of the transmitters combined into a community antenna.
As stations transition to new channel assignments, Congress allocates more money.
The FCC should seek to minimize disruptions to TV viewers and FM radio listeners as it firms up how it will distribute the $1 billion additionally allocated by Congress to reimburse broadcasters for their channel relocation expenses, NAB said in comments filed with the agency.
GatesAir reached what it called a milestone in its transmitter sales and deliveries for the U.S. spectrum repack with the shipment of its 100th repack transmitter. Hearst Television, one of many U.S. […]
Repack Reimbursement Comments Due Sept. 26
In Monday’s Federal Register, publication is scheduled for the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on reimbursing LPTV stations, TV translators and FM radio stations for costs they incur because of the TV incentive auction and the resulting repacking of the TV spectrum. The publication in the Federal Register means that comments on the FCC proposals are due Sept. 26, and reply comments on Oct. 26.
GatesAir, a global provider of wireless, over-the-air content delivery solutions for radio and TV broadcasters, will supply Maxiva liquid-cooled transmitters to South Carolina Educational Television Commission (SCETV) in support of […]
As promised, the FCC has released the second tranche of post-incentive auction repack funding, which is almost all of the original money allocated by Congress. It is allocating an additional $742 million (or 92.5% of total costs), with a tad left over for ($8 million), eventually, for “trueing up” those payments–the payments are based on broadcaster cost estimates that are something of a moving target.
In a public notice issued Feb. 9, the FCC’s Media Bureau and Incentive Auction Task Force said the “special displacement window” for LPTV and translator stations filing applications for channels opened April 10 and closes May 15. But LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition Director Michael Gravino says the FCC just changed its guidance on how those should be filed and his members need another two weeks to digest the change and respond accordingly.
RF Vendors Rolling Ahead With The Repack
Manufacturers of transmitters, antennas, transmission line, filters and other RF components are already busy with repack orders but say the additional funding included in the government’s recent spending bill should greatly ease the process, particularly for mid-to-small-market stations that have been slow to invest due to fears about compensation. Above, a Dielectric APT panel antenna. Click here to access TVNewsCheck’s NAB 2018 Resource Guide listing transmitters, antennas and other RF gear or here to download it as a PDF.
LPTV/Translator Filing Window Opens April 10
In case you forgot, this a reminder to low-power television and TV rranslator broadcasters of the FCC’s Special Displacement Window for LPTV Stations. This 60-day filing window opens up on Tuesday, April 10, and lasts through Tuesday, May 15, at 11:59 p.m. ET. This special window is limited to applications to change channels, which may be filed only by operating LPTV stations and TV translators being displaced from their current channel as a result of the TV spectrum repack.
President Donald Trump signed the $1.3 trillion spending bill Friday that includes an additional $1 billion for spectrum repack expenses, averting a government shutdown and ending a panic that briefly gripped official Washington. A few hours after stunning even his closest advisers by tweeting that he was “considering a VETO“ of the bill, he held a news conference to say he would begrudgingly support it “as a matter of national security.“
The FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force and the Media Bureau have made changes to the DTV Reception Map. The map is designed to help over-the-air viewers understand which local stations they will be able to receive and what signal quality they might expect depending on their antenna type and placement as the repack rolls out for hundreds of TV stations that will begin transmitting on new channels between now and July 2020.
KXAS Getting Repack Help From T-Mobile
T-Mobile and the Dallas NBC O&O announced an agreement to accelerate the repacking of the station’s 600 MHz spectrum in North Texas and surrounding areas. KXAS will move to its new frequency in late May, more than a year earlier than the FCC deadline of June 21, 2019. The agreement allows KXAS to move to its new frequency and maximize its coverage area earlier than anticipated.
The Central Texas College Board Of Trustees voted to pull the plug on KNCT Killeen, Texas, the region’s only PBS station. KNCT GM Max Rudolph said the station was faced with a significant amount of expense to move the station from ch. 46 to ch. 17, which would cost about $4.4 million.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday approved a bill reauthorizing funding for the FCC and allocating additional funds to TV and radio stations affected by the FCC’s incentive auction, which repurposes broadcast airwaves for wireless providers. It would also implement a number of process reforms aimed at making the agency run more efficiently.
The FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force and the Media Bureau announced the opening of a 60-day filing window for those LPTV stations that are being displaced as a result of the post-incentive auction repacking process.The window will be open from Tuesday, April 10, through Tuesday, May 15, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Once a station has identified which channel it wants — and on which it can operate without causing unacceptable interference — it should file a construction permit application during this filing window.
FCC To Randomly Inspect Repacked Stations
The FCC said yesterday that it will be inspecting approximately 60 of the more than 900 TV stations changing channels as a result of the incentive auction and the repacking of the TV spectrum that took place after that auction. The FCC notice says that it is hiring contract employees who will conduct these inspections on a randomly selected set of stations to assess the equipment that they have on hand and will be replacing when moving to their new channel.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai: “The commission has made it a top priority to assist with the recovery from last year’s devastating hurricanes. Today, we’re taking another important step to expedite the restoration of vital communications services.
The experienced finance executive will also oversee human resources and information technology, while introducing new strategies to improve company profitability and increase shareholder value.
A new deal includes site audits, turnkey solutions and installation services for broadband transmitters at to 13 stations affected by the TV spectrum repack.
Broadcasters tell the FCC that in light of the devastation from Hurricanes Irma and Maria, “there is good cause to accelerate transition of the stations to post-auction channel assignments in order to avoid wasteful duplicative construction and to enable stations to utilize approved TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund reimbursements to subsidize restoration of broadcast television service to the people of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.”
The Phase One and Two deal covers antennas, filters and/or transmission line customized for each station, with Dielectric’s modeling software driving accelerated delivery timelines.
On Monday, the FCC announced the initial allocation from the TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund for the reimbursement of eligible full power and Class A television stations as well as multichannel video programming distributors impacted by the Incentive Auction. The initial allocation of the Relocation Fund makes available $1 billion for reimbursement of expenses related to the construction of their post-auction facilities. Commercial stations and MVPDs may now access approximately 52% (62% for noncommercial stations) of their estimated and verified costs of construction of their post-auction facilities.
