REC Networks: FCC Should Do Away With Channel 6 Protections

The FCC shouldn’t punt on removing interference protections intended to keep FM stations from interfering with Channel 6 TV stations in an upcoming order on FM6 stations (see 2306290056), said low-power FM entity REC Networks in a call with Audio Division Chief Albert Shuldiner and Media Bureau staff Friday, according to an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 03-185. The protections are outdated, and tests by NPR Labs and others show that modern digital TVs aren’t affected by the same interference issues as receivers from the 1960s and '70s, the filing said. “There has been a 100 percent elimination of such receivers from service because of the DTV transition,” the filing said. “There has been no objection to the removal of the FM to TV6 protection requirements brought forward by any secondary television user of Channel 6,” REC said.