Incentive Auction Deadline for New Facilities Spurs Class A's To Go Digital

The FCC deadline for Class A's and full-power TV stations to build and license new facilities to have them protected in the incentive auction spurred a wave of construction by Class A stations working to get their new digital footprint in under the deadline, broadcast attorneys said in interviews last week. Many Class A's had put off such conversions because the auction deadline kept being moved and the prohibitive cost of upgrades, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Peter Tannenwald. He said he knew of several stations working hard in the last days before the deadline to get their facilities completed and proper filings in.

Though Friday's deadline (see 1505140044) applied to Class A and full-power stations, most full-power stations have long been prevented by the FCC modification freeze from making the kinds of modifications associated with the deadline. Only full powers that received a waiver of the freeze, such as stations moving off Channel 51 to make way for wireless, are likely to be up against the deadline, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford. “This is the last opportunity for all full power and Class A licensees to modify their licenses to fix any errors they may have made in providing us their operating parameters and to have those modifications protected in the repacking process,” said a Media Bureau May 13 reminder public notice.

Setting a line to finalize footprints of stations is important to let the FCC proceed with the incentive auction, said an agency official. “They have to draw the line at some point,” said Tannenwald. With the list of stations that will be protected in the auction complete, the next step is for the bureau to issue an eligibility PN, the official said. The eligibility PN will list “the facilities eligible for protection in the repacking process and relinquishment in the reverse auction,” and give licensees 30 days to certify that the information in the PN is correct. The eligibility PN is expected to be released by mid-June, the bureau has said.

Though the high cost of upgrading facilities has been a deterrent to many small Class A operations going digital, the potential earnings represented by the incentive auction have spurred stations to do so before the deadline, Tannenwald said. The bureau has said Class A's that don't get their digital upgrade completed and licensed in time will have their earlier, analog footprint protected in the auction. Since digital footprints are generally larger, that threat has motivated stations to get in under the deadline, Tannenwald said.

After the deadline, even modifications filed to fix errors by licensees that the FCC grants and licenses won't count in determining protection in the repacking process and auction eligible spectrum, the bureau said in a PN on the deadline. “Concluding otherwise would undermine our ability to ensure a stable database and prepare for the reverse auction and repacking process.” There's "been a great deal of notice of this deadline,” Oxenford said.

The bureau granted an expedited process to TDS, licensee of full-power KOHD Bend, Oregon, to allow it to make the deadline, (see 1505140046). KOHD moved to Channel 18 from Channel 51 roughly a week before the deadline, according to filings. The move will prevent interference in the lower 700 MHz A block in the Portland market, the bureau said: “Good cause exists to make this channel change effective immediately.” TDS didn't comment.