Several stations found problems with the facilities they were allocated in DTV Table of Allotments and have filed Petitions for Reconsideration. Many of these came from stations with facilities built or authorized that differ from those in the DTV Table of Allotments in the DTV Seventh Report and Order. In some cases the differences are substantial, while in others they only amount to coordinates that were truncated instead of being rounded to the nearest whole second.
Richland Reserve LLC, permittee of a new DTV facility in Greeley, Colo., filed comments instead of a Petition for Reconsideration, requesting a different DTV channel. Its CP is for Channel 45. Due to interference caused by other stations listed in the draft DTV Table of Allotments, Richland requested Channel 49. The FCC agreed with Richland’s analysis and proposed allotting Channel 49 for use in Greeley in the Eighth Further Notice. However, after KBDI-TV in Broomfield, Colo. changed its tentatively designated channel from 38 to 13, Richland now requests the FCC amend the DTV Table of Allotments to specify Channel 38 for the new Greeley facility instead of channel 49, as it would eliminate all interference concerns.
In another case, Tribune filled comments noting that the DTV Table of Allotments is based on the pre-Katrina facilities of WGNO and WNOL in New Orleans. Tribune requested that the Allotment be changed to reflect the new location and other characteristics of the replacement facilities at the WDSU site.
Analog VHF licenses with maximized UHF DTV facilities that certified construction to their maximized coverage post-transition on their VHF channel found their maximized coverage area was often less than their analog replication coverage. This is because of the differences in the way the FCC calculates VHF and UHF coverage and antenna patterns. Some stations moving from UHF DTV to VHF DTV channels are now requesting their certification be changed from “maximized”, which was based on their UHF DTV coverage, to “replication,” based on their analog coverage area.
I’ll have more on the DTV Table of Allotments and the requested changes in a future RF Report after next week’s FCC deadline for filing comments and petitions for reconsideration passes.
