If you are among those who have an FM translator application (or two, or a few hundred) in front of the FCC, this one’s for you.
The Media Bureau has published examples to help clarify your “application selections and cap showing requirements.”
As RW has reported, the Media Bureau in December announced a filing window that opens tomorrow, Jan. 10, and runs to Jan. 25, in which certain Auction 83 FM translator applicants must make those application selections and cap showings. This all comes out of the recent LPFM order, setting out how the low-power service is going to be expanded and how translator applicants will be affected as a result.
Now the bureau says it has heard numerous questions about the translator filing requirements. “To assist existing FM translator applicants, the bureau has prepared the following examples to clarify and illustrate the required submissions.”
You can read them here:
/Portals/0/fccnotice010913z.doc
The bureau added that these are intended to provide general guidance only. “The staff will make specific rulings in response to actual selections and submissions on a case-by-case basis.” For more info it asked applicants to contact James Bradshaw or Robert Gates, Audio Division, Media Bureau, (202) 418-2700.
In blogging about this, broadcast lawyers at Fletcher Heald and Hildreth note that for these translator applicants, “a considerable amount of work must be done, and there’s not a lot of time to do it in.” FHH says though that, “Translator applicants currently struggling with making selections and assembling showings would be well-advised to take a few minutes (and a couple of deep breaths) and check out the Bureau’s examples.”
