Next week at its open meeting, the FCC will consider some of the regulatory issues threatening a successful DTV transition. The agenda item states, "The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing procedures and rule changes necessary to complete the transition to digital television."
The NPRM should provide details on what procedures stations will have to follow when moving and how much latitude they will have when making the transition to their final DTV allotment. It should also provide guidelines on interference levels the FCC will consider acceptable when stations seek to maximize DTV power after analog TV is shut off in February 2009. I hope it will propose rules for distributed transmission systems and low-power, gap filler, on-channel boosters.
Other topics on the agenda include a review of television labeling requirements in connection with the transition from analog to digital television and a Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking related to mandatory cable carriage of digital broadcast TV signals after the conclusion of the DTV transition.
