Updated at 2:25pm Eastern on Jan. 9 to address a copy-editing error pertaining to the number of VHF low power stations licensed as of Dec. 31, 2016.
The FCC on Thursday (1/5) released its year-end 2016 totals for broadcast stations licensed as of Dec. 31.
The biggest news involves FM translators.
At year’s end some 7,253 FM translators and boosters were licensed nationwide.
This compares to 6,962 translators and boosters at the end of Q3 2016.
Meanwhile, there are two less AM stations — at 4,669.
How many commercial FM stations are there? The total is now 6,746, with nine more stations licensed since Sept. 30.
There is one more educational (NCE) FM, putting the total nationwide at 4,101.
On the TV side, there are two fewer commercial UHF stations, at 1,033. There is also one less 352 commercial VHF station, with 351 licensed nationally.
There are two more educational TV stations (289) and more additional educational TV station (105).
Looking at Class A facilities, UHF stations total 393, down from 401. VHF stations total 24, up from 16.
Among the other statistics shared by the FCC:
UHF TRANSLATORS 2911 (down from 3292)
VHF TRANSLATORS 878 (up from 501)
UHF LOW POWER TV 1600 (down from 1422)
VHF LOW POWER TV 336 (down from 533)
LOW POWER FM 1,678 (up from 1,609)
This puts the total broadcast station number at 32,397, compared to 32,042 in Q3.
