Search
Published on:
FCC Creates Digital Television Translator Service
5/8/2009
On December 23, 2008, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to create a new “replacement” digital television translator service.
Today, the FCC released a Report and Order creating that service, outlining the parameters of the new service, and setting forth application procedures. The purpose of the Digital Television Translator service is to permit full-power television stations to continue to provide service to viewers who have lost or will lose service as a result of a station’s digital transition. As a result, only the licensees of full-power television stations are eligible to apply, and the translators are to be used solely to serve a station’s analog loss areas created by the transition to digital. The FCC indicates that the service “is not intended for digital full-service stations to use in proposed digital service areas, where analog service did not formerly exist.”