Update: TV Pickup Station Registration Requirement Out for Initial PRA Comments
Last August, in connection with its review of wireless backhaul regulation, the Commission announced that folks holding TV pickup licenses in the 6875-7125 MHz and 12700-13200 MHz bands would be required to register their stationary receive-only sites in the Commission’s Universal Licensing System (ULS). (You can read our report about the wireless backhaul overhaul here.) That new registration requirement, set out in Section 74.605 of the Commission's rules, has not yet kicked in – as with so many things, it’s subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), so it needs the thumbs-up from OMB before it can take effect. And that thumbs up is still probably at least 90 days away, since the FCC has only just now started the PRA drill, which normally mandates an initial 60-day comment period at the FCC and a separate, follow-up 30-day comment period at OMB.
In a notice published in the Federal Register, the Commission has gotten the ball rolling by requesting PRA-based comments on the ULS registration requirement for TV pickup stations in the 6875-7125 MHz and 12700-13200 MHz bands. Comments are due to be filed with the Commission by January 27, 2012. After that, it’ll be on to OMB. (Note: the Federal Register notice refers at one point to Section 74.405. Don't be fooled. That appears to be the kind of typo anybody can make. We're all talking about 74.605 here.)
Engineers for the Integrity of Broadcast Auxiliary Services Spectrum (EIBASS) filed a Petition for Partial Reconsideration of the WT Docket 10-153 R&O, in which several un-addressed issues regarding the registration of 7 and 13 GHz TV BAS ENG-RO sites are raised. A copy of that petition is available on the EIBASS web site, at http://www.eibass.org/images/filings/2011-09-27_recon_fnprm_wt10-153.pdf or, of course, also in the ECFS. I expect that EIBASS will file follow-up PRA comments, addressing these same issues, just to make sure.