The FCC is circulating an order that will...

The FCC is circulating an order that will maintain the Sept. 1, 2015, deadline for low-power TV to make the digital transition, an agency official told us Monday. Though the item is listed on the FCC website only as a proposed amendment to the rules for digital LPTV, the official said the proposed order is mainly a denial of a petition for reconsideration filed by Signal Above, licensee of WDCN-LP Fairfax, Va., and WDCO-LP Salisbury, Md. (http://bit.ly/1cZ525f). Signal had argued that any hard deadline for analog LPTV stations to cease analog transmission and shift to digital “will penalize the efficient and innovative use of spectrum the Commission is committed to fostering, and it will gratuitously and seriously erode existing public broadcasting services.” The order on circulation rejects that argument and preserves the existing deadline, said the FCC official.