WASHINGTON — We’ve been warning you for months about yesterday’s deadline to register C-Band satellites (and the Federal Communications Commission already granted a 90-day extension from its original summer deadline) but that apparently didn’t stop many filers from waiting until the last minute.
Predictably, the influx of procrastinators overwhelmed the commission’s filing system, creating what the FCC’s International Bureau termed “intermittent difficulties that have prevented some applicants from filing for license or registration” in a press release announcing a two-week extension to accommodate these unlucky last-minute filers.
Yes, the FCC has treated constituents to a new filing window that ends on Halloween. But if you don’t get your act together by Oct. 31, you may find your earth station facing interference after the spectrum auction — a nasty trick no broadcaster wants to deal with.
(Hat tip to FHH’s Jessica T. Nyman for the All Hallow’s Eve references and alerting us to the change.)