The 10 regions as illustrated in the April 20th Public Notice. WASHINGTON—Federal coordinators have been appointed for each of 10 repack regions, plus two more each for translators and for low-power TV stations—a total of 14 all together. These individuals will serve as each station’s point of contact with the Federal Communications Commission throughout the post-auction TV channel repack process. These coordinators will be making contact with the stations in their respective assigned regions.
“To enhance its ability to closely monitor the progress of the repack and to facilitate coordination among stations, each station that will transition to a new channel has been grouped into one of 10 geographically-based regions. Each region has a dedicated [Media] Bureau staff member as a regional coordinator,” the commission said in an April 20th Public Notice. “Regional coordinators will act as a first point of contact at the commission for stations and, with the support of other Bureau staff and other commission bureaus and offices, will assist in resolving issues and challenges that stations in the region encounter as a result of the transition.”
A total of 927 full-power and Class A TV stations will have to move to new channel assignments over the next 39 months, in a series of 10 phases with staggered deadlines. The stations in the first phase, for example, have 17 months to make the move. During this period, stations will have to hammer out equipment contracts, file the necessary applications and construction permits, complete construction of new facilities, provide notification for going dark on old channels, and prepare and submit the proper paperwork to qualify for reimbursement from the $1.75 billion relocation fund.
The chart above shows the date when a station in that phase can start testing equipment on its new channel, and the completion date for that phase. Stations must cease transmitting on their pre-auction channel on the phase-completion dates. The complete list of reassigned stations and their phase deadlines is available on the commission’s website.
These phases are distinct from the regional assignments, designed to be “geographically continuous, to group linked sets in the same region, and to have a similar number of stations in each region,” and include stations within a given designated market area.
The regional, LPTV and translator repack coordinators, their emails and phone numbers, are available in the Public Notice, linked to the image below.
Also see...
Oct. 5, 2016
“FCC Repack Plan: Key Points”
TV Technology gleaned some key points from the phased-in repack plan proposed by the Federal Communications Commission last Friday. (See, “FCC Proposes DMA-Level Phased Repack,” Sept. 30.)
Sept. 30, 2016
“UPDATED: FCC Proposes DMA-Level Phased Repack”
This Phase Scheduling Tool, is said to take into account current manufacturer inventories, ordering, manufacturing and delivery times, as well as the time required for planning and zoning, legal work and pre-construction tower alterations, and coordination with other stations within a Designated Market Area. This Phase Scheduling Tool is described in the TSPPN at some length.
