Comment Date Set for FCC DTV NPRM

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In the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 07-70) in the Third Periodic Review of the DTV transition released two months ago, the commission proposed deadlines for completing DTV facilities, required coverage and procedures for obtaining extensions for construction of post-transition DTV facilities.

It also proposed interference standards for modifying post-transition DTV facilities. Stations would be required to file reports on their preparation for the end of the DTV transition in February 2009. These rules must be finalized before broadcasters can be sure exactly what they will be allowed to do or required to do before the Feb. 17, 2009, analog shutdown. On Monday, the FCC announced the NPRM had been published in the Federal Register, starting the clock on the brief comment and reply comment period.

Comments must be filed on or before Aug. 8, 2007, and reply comments filed on or before Aug. 23, 2007. TV stations required to build out their final DTV facilities by Feb. 17, 2009, have a bit more than 19 months to order and install equipment, so the FCC is likely to waste little time in releasing the final Order with transition rules once the comment periods end.

For more information on the NPRM, see use the “Select an Issue to View” menu on the RF Report index to access the May 25, 2007, issue of RF Report.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung
Contributor

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack. A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.