The FCC has now assigned a total of 1,713 TV stations tentative post-transition DTV channels. With the release of its latest Public Notice (DA 05-2649) last week, the FCC added four stations that had successfully resolved interference conflicts.
The four stations allowed to amend their Form 382 First Round Election filing include:
- WUOA, Tuscaloosa, Ala., was allowed to elect its NTSC channel 23 after a potential interference issue to a Class A station was resolved. WUOA did not have a paired DTV channel.
- WPVI-TV in Philadelphia was allowed to elect its NTSC channel 6 after it conducted tests using the low-VHF channel under an STA granted after the first round election deadline.
- WNYO-TV in Buffalo, NY originally elected its NTSC channel 49 and received a tentative channel designation on that channel. However, as a result of international coordination developments, WNYO-TV amended its form to elect its DTV channel 34.
- WNPA-TV in Jeanette, Pa., had a pending rulemaking to change its DTV channel from 32 to 49. However, Form 382 did not allow it to specify channel 49. The FCC corrected the record to designate channel 49 as WNPA-TV's tentative final DTV channel.
The Public Notice also corrected an error in the previous listing of tentative channel designations to specify channel 25 for WCOV, Milwaukee, Wis.
TV stations that did not have an in-core channel or elected to go into Round Two are eligible to file Form 384 to elect a DTV channel in the Second Round. Stations with unresolved interference conflicts in Round One must also go to Round Two. On Form 384, stations can elect an available in-core channel (2-51) or ask the FCC to determine the best available final DTV channel for them to provide full replication facilities. Negotiated channel agreements may also be filed in Round Two.
The FCC warned that some channels have pending matters, including channels 7 and 45 for WABC-TV in New York. Applications regarding the swap of channels 32 and 45 in Hartford and Norwich Conn. remain pending, but the WEDN NTSC channel 24 in Hartford has been released.
See Attachment 1 - Tentative DTV Channel Designations for First Round for a listing of current post-transition DTV channel designations.
