A notice of proposed rulemaking reportedly is circulating at the FCC on the question of allowing AMs to use FM translators, law firm Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth hears.
The commission has been granting such STAs authorizing AMs to re-broadcast on FM translators. “Now we have informal confirmation from the Media Bureau that a notice of proposed rulemaking has been drafted and is circulating on the eight floor relative to that prohibition,” the law firm reports in a client newsletter. NAB has been pushing for such a change in the rules.
“While we haven’t seen the draft, we suspect that it proposes the elimination of the prohibition. But even if the NPRM were to be adopted right away and put on a fast track, don’t look for any change on this front until early to mid-2008, at the absolute soonest.”
“It’s entirely possible that we may not see a final decision on this until 2009. But trying to push things along are a group of 15 members of Congress who wrote to the Chairman last month in support of letting AMers onto FM translators.”
In the meantime, the law firm said it hears that the commission is granting STAs with “some regularity.”
