All you STELA watchers who have been waiting on tenterhooks for more than six months can now breathe easy: the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved Section 73.686(e). As a result, that section has become effective as of June 30, 2011. For those of who may have lost track of all this, last November the Commission adopted amendments to its broadcast satellite rules as provided in the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010 (STELA). Most of the rule changes became effective back in January. But Section 73.686(e), which addresses procedures for measuring the field strength of digital television signals, involved some “information collection” requirements which – thanks to the Paperwork Reduction Act – had to be reviewed by OMB before they could kick in. OMB has now blessed the FCC’s handiwork and, by notice in the Federal Register, the FCC has announced that Section 73.686(e) has become effective.
