WASHINGTON, D.C. — The FCC has adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on updates to rules for full power and Class A stations which reflect the digital transition and completion of the post-incentive auction, current technology, and/or Commission practices.
This item, the Commission says, marks the first comprehensive review of Part 73 since the digital transition.
Specifically, the NPRM asks for comment on a number of proposals, including eliminating rules regarding analog operating requirements that no longer have any practical effect given the digital transition.
The NPRM also proposes to delete outdated rules that are no longer valid given past changes in Commission-adopted policy. In addition, the NPRM proposes to reorganize a portion of the Commission’s technical television rules to make the rules easier to find and more practical for users.
With the three Commissioners approving the NPRM, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel commented, “I remember when my household viewed all video on a single screen. There was just the television. But times have changed. Because now so many of us now watch what we want, whenever we want, on any screen handy. That’s an extraordinary transformation, and to make it happen the broadcast television industry had to undergo two of the most sweeping transitions in communications history. First, the industry switched from old analog operations to new digital-only broadcasting. Second, we held an incentive auction to repurpose airwaves for new uses, requiring the industry to adapt to a new television band built for the modern era.”
Now that these big transitions have occurred, it is time for the FCC to revise some of its broadcast TV rules, she explained. “Some are simply no longer relevant,” Rosenworcel said. “So today we work to fix that.”
