Audio Video News

Broadcasters will have an easier task ahead of them when it comes time to make the permanent change to digital, thanks to a recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Responding to requests by Paxson Communications Corporation and other broadcasters, the FCC has agreed to extend deadlines for TV stations which agree not to use some of their allotted airwaves, as part of an effort to clear the frequencies used by broadcasters on channels 60–69. The agency hopes to clear the band occupied by those channels so they can be auctioned off to wireless communications networks and other services. To speed the process, the FCC has decided to let stations using those channels shift to other frequencies while making the change to digital broadcasting.

The decision may delay the dates by which some stations go live with digital. Under the new rule, any station that relinquishes a channel will get an additional three years to build its digital facilities. The deadline for other stations to install new digital broadcasting equipment is May 1.

Paxson had campaigned among the television broadcasting industry, urging more than 100 stations in the channels 60–69 band to move to other channels, thereby freeing up that part of the spectrum. The company hopes that the FCC will share payments from Verizon and other phone carriers with the accommodating stations. "There are going to be billions of dollars spent to get this spectrum, and part of it will go to the FCC and part of it will go to the broadcasters," explained chairman Lowell Paxson. The FCC will process any applications to vacate channels 60–69 within 90 days, according to a September 18 report in the Los Angeles Times.