With little fanfare and swift approval, the three Commissioners of the FCC gave their thumbs’ up to a Report and Order amending its rules to provide regulatory certainty and clarity to low-power TV broadcasters.
The R&O will also be updated to reflect changes in the broadcast industry since the establishment of the LPTV service, something of particular importance to Chairman Brendan Carr.
The R&O deals with MB Docket No. 24-148, an “Amendment of the Commission’s Rules to Advance the Low Power Television, TV Translator and Class A Television Service.” It was introduced in May 2024, alongside MB Docket No. 24-147, focused on “Political Programming and Online Public File Requirements for Low Power Television Stations.”
The 3-0 vote from Commissioners at the December Open Meeting adopts revisions to the Commission’s rules relating to the Class A television, Low Power TV (LPTV), and TV Translator stations.
For Carr, the R&O streamlines and formalizes LPTV services rules that have not been updated to keep up with today’s marketplace. “That changes today,” Carr said from the dais.
Democrat Anna Gómez said she was happy to support the R&O, while Republican Olivia Trusty saluted Media Bureau staff including Mark Colombo, Associate Bureau Chief within the Video Bureau, for helping consumers “continue to thrive” through this legislation.
“The R&O adopts changes to our rules in order to provide regulatory certainty and clarity, streamline processes, create a level playing field, and ultimately ensure the LPTV Service continues to flourish and serve the public interest long into the future,” the FCC noted in its R&O fact sheet.
What the R&O Does:
• Updates how relocation distances are calculated for displaced and channel sharing LPTV/TV translators stations.
• Establishes a uniform maximum relocation distance for all minor modification applications.
• Establishes a formal method for LPTV Service stations to specify a community of license.
• Requires stations in the LPTV Service to utilize a call sign that matches their service designation (existing LPTV/Class A call signs are “grandfathered”).
• Establishes a formal process for LPTV Service stations to change their service designation.
• Clarifies what EAS equipment must be installed by LPTV stations.
• Clarifies the video program responsibilities of LPTV/TV translators.
• Revises and expands the displacement rule to clearly enumerate the circumstances that qualify LPTV/TV translator stations for displacement and eliminate the displacement public notice period.
• Updates technical rules to help prevent interference.
• Removes obsolete rules.
• Permits LPTV/TV translator channel sharing stations to apply for their own channels.
• Declines to adopt new LPTV minimum operating hours; limit community of license changes; restrict service designation changes; or limit applicants’ ability to round distance calculations.
