Going Mobile
Chairman confirms upcoming effort to re-purpose TV spectrum for mobile broadband
For several months now the question on many TV broadcasters’ minds has been: will they or won’t they take away my spectrum and turn it over to smartphones? And while various FCC higher-ups have dropped conflicting hints about what the answer might be, the fact is that no one has expected to know for sure until the release (currently set for March 16) of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan (NBP). But late this month Chairman Genachowski tipped the Commission’s hand, albeit without adding much practical detail.
The FCC’s answer appears to be: TV spectrum is not being used efficiently, and would be better allocated to mobile broadband use, so the FCC plans to devise some mechanism to encourage TV licensees to cough up some or all of their spectrum in return for the prospect of taking home some portion of the proceeds when their spectrum is auctioned off for broadband.
According to the Chairman, the NBP will call for the “freeing up” of 500 MHz of spectrum over the next decade. And one way the FCC hopes to achieve that, at least in part, will involve “establish[ing] market-based mechanisms that enable spectrum intended for the commercial marketplace to flow to the uses the market values most.”
Can you spell “a-u-c-t-i-o-n”?
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Those of us charged with getting the FCC to do things – issue licenses, grant waivers, cancel fines, all of that – are vitally interested in the fine points of FCC procedures, because understanding them can spell the difference between success and failure. Just as no one would sensibly sit down to a game of poker without knowing that three of a kind beats two pair, no competent practitioner would take on the FCC without knowing the somewhat more complex rules of that agency’s regulatory game. And, sometimes, part of the job lies in knowing how to navigate those rules most advantageously.
The gestation period for the 
The 
As 
Way back in the day, each Commissioner enjoyed not only an in-office lawyer (dubbed “legal assistant”), but also an engineer to help guide the Commissioner through the technical arcana that necessarily inform most FCC decisions. Somewhere along the line, what with belt-tightening and all, the “engineering assistant” positions got sloughed off. As a result, the Commissioners – none of them engineers – have increasingly relied on the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) for direction on the technical nitty-gritty. 
The NFL illustrates our point, again..jpg)
A couple of updates on comment deadlines that have changed since our last reports on the underlying proceeding:
The FCC has issued a .jpg)
The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a long-standing ban on corporate spending on political advertising, as well as a related portion of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform act that prohibited “electioneering communications” by corporations and unions in the days leading up to an election. This is welcome news to broadcasters and others in the media business as the decision is widely predicted to introduce a new pool of buyers of political advertising time.
Depending on who you ask, 2010 may or may not be the start of a new decade. Depending on who answers, 2010 may or may not be the start of a new FCC. That’s because the FCC is relying on you (and you and you, the guy in the brown shoes reading this during his lunch break) to help decide on the direction in which the agency should be moving. They’ve labeled this process “Reboot.FCC.Gov” and, like all the kids are doing nowadays, they’ have not only set up a website at that domain, but also tied the whole thing together with the Blogging, and the Twittering and the Facebooking and the YouTubing (there’s a bunch of other social media connections as well, including, for some reason MySpace, in case the next big indie band wants to participate)..jpg)
The FCC has bitten the bullet and taken steps to clear the 700 MHz band of wireless microphones in order to make room for new uses. At the same time, it has legalized these devices in the hands of formerly unlawful users.
The FCC has proposed rules providing for an annual test of the national alert capability of the broadcast Emergency Alert System (EAS). What’s more, all EAS participants in the country will have to tell the FCC whether they received the test, whether they retransmitted it, and if not, what went wrong.
Like 
Two days before Christmas, and all was neither calm nor bright for Form 323 at the FCC. On December 23 the agency’s troubled efforts to launch its revised Form 323 – the Ownership Report for commercial broadcasters – got more troubled on a couple of fronts. In the morning, 
Last June 
Regular readers know that t
Yes, attendance at the NESBA, 4G World and WCAI events may have been a bit sparse, and the merger of Sprint and Clearwire’s 2.6 GHz spectrum properties might seem a harbinger of inactivity in the Educational Broadband Service (EBS), particularly for those with EBS capacity to lease. But don’t be fooled.
If you’ve got a TV license, you’ve got a problem. After a couple of months’ of crescendoing news reports, rumors, indirect proposals, and other non-official murmurings, the Commission has issued a 
Following up on the 
Last month 
As of late in the afternoon on November 20, the Commission is still apparently sticking to its December 15 deadline for its revised Ownership Report (FCC Form 323) for commercial broadcasters – at least according to its website. The FCC doesn’t seem to think that it’s a problem that that revised form has still not been made public, or that the dwindling period (less than four weeks as of this writing) between now and the deadline is interrupted by the Thanksgiving holiday. While rumors swirl about possible postponement of the deadline – some suggesting a postponement is possible, others suggesting just the opposite – the Commission so far has kept mum, which means the clock is still ticking toward December 15.
On November 19 the Senate Commerce Committee approved 
Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth has filed a Motion for Stay with the Commission, asking it to hold off on the implementation of its new Ownership Report (FCC Form 323) for commercial broadcast stations. You can read the 
Some of you radio broadcasters out there might have received letters recently from one or more of the following:
They think big in Texas, and they think independent in Texas, and so it should be no surprise that an FM radio operator was not impressed when the Feds arrived at his doorstep. Some FCC agents claimed that the operator – one Raymond Frank – was lacking some piece of paper or other from some agency Back East in Washington, but Mr. Frank knew better. No “pirate broadcaster” he – no, he was operating strictly within the boundaries of the Republic of Texas, and so was not subject to the laws of the Yoo-nited States or any little ol’ FCC. (Frank also argued that the FCC’s rules violate the First Amendment. But if Frank was not a U.S. Citizen – being as how he claimed Republic of Texas citizenship and all – that argument may have been a tad inconsistent, but we digress.)
The Commission has invited public comment on the NPR proposal to deep-six 
Digital (a/k/a “HD”) radio has yet to captivate the consuming public as much as its promoters might have hoped. Still, that technology has opened up some opportunities for creative broadcasters looking to achieve results that might not otherwise be achievable under existing FCC rules and policies. One example surfaced recently, brought to our attention (and the Commission’s) by an unhappy competitor..jpg)
It may seem like forever ago, but it was in 2007 – less than three years ago – that the Commission, acting at the suggestion of an ad hoc “coalition” of broadcasters, consulting engineers and manufacturers, started to get serious about “moment method modeling”. In May of that year it .jpg)
With the announcement of an upcoming open window for certain FM allotments, the 
If you’re interested in filing for a new non-commercial FM construction permit specifying a channel that would otherwise be restricted for commercial use, here’s your chance. The 
The American public is seriously into zombies just now – how else to account for the fact that Zombieland took in some $25 million during its first weekend, and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has spent considerable time on many best seller lists? So we should not be surprised that, on October 15, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed 
On September 1, we 
The Census Bureau's public relations contractor is compiling a database of broadcast outlets to publicize the 2010 Census. Broadcasters who would like to be included in that database should email Louise Harley, Program Analyst in the 2010 Census Publicity Office, with a brief description of their stations, including markets reached, station format, and listener demographics to facilitate media buys. Ms. Harley's email address is 
The FCC has 
After 50 rounds of bidding which spanned three weeks, Auction 79, featuring 122 FM construction permits, came to an end late on the afternoon of September 15. Unlike previous auctions which raked in tens of millions of dollars for the federal coffers – like the 2007 auction that brought in $21 million or the 2006 affair that fetched $54 million – Auction 79 barely brought in a paltry $5 million.
In the midst of wildfire season in California and hurricane season on the coasts, the Commission has issued a 
It seems like just last week – wait, it was just last week – that we 
It’s official! The FCC has 
As we all know, last April the 
As we 
A new front has been opened in the on-going struggle over the Performance Rights Act (PRA). The new battleground is the FCC, which has 
Responding to our post about the apparent glitch in CDBS which is complicating the preparation of Form 314 assignment applications for new audio (and possibly TV) construction permits, our colleague Peter Tannenwald has provided a possible work-around. According to Peter, CDBS will let you open up a new 314 for a CP sale IF the CP has a call sign. That is, the glitch appears only to occur when all you have to identify the CP is a file number and a Facility ID number.
With the Fourth of July fading into the past and Labor Day looming ominously just beyond the horizon, hurricane season is upon us. Lisa Fowlkes, Deputy Chief of the Commission’s Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau, has asked us to pass along to our clients and readers some important FCC contact information in case Mother Nature turns nasty in the coming weeks and months.
Following up on audits of the EEO performance of a number of broadcast licensees, the Media Bureau has dished out fines ranging from $3,000 to $12,000 to three licensees for various shortcomings. In addition to the fines, each of the three is also saddled with reporting requirements for the next three-four years – and if any of the stations happen to be sold in the meantime, the buyer will get stuck with the reporting chores. (Good luck explaining to the buyer exactly why he or she should bear that particular cross.) You can read the decisions 
It’s that time of year again! Claims for cable retransmission copyright royalties and/or satellite copyright royalties earned during 2008 must be submitted to the Copyright Royalty Board of the Library of Congress by Friday, July 31, 2009. 
Ever want to own your own television station? Your chance is just around the corner, as long as you’re willing to start small with a Low Power Television or TV translator station. The FCC has announced that the welcome mat for applications for new LPTV/translator stations (and major changes to existing stations) will be out as of August 25, if you want a rural station; if you’re looking for Bright Lights/Big City action, though, you’ll have to wait until next January. 
In an effort to provide a lifeline to an AM radio industry in continued, and dramatic, competitive decline, the Commission has changed its rules to permit AM stations to rebroadcast their signals on FM translators under certain conditions. The long-awaited 
The Commission has added to the lexicon of things you can’t say on the radio, if you’re a noncommercial broadcaster and you’re referring to people or companies who have provided you with underwriting support. We last alerted our readers to the issue of prohibited “advertisements” in a 
Before you even think about trying to pull the wool over the Commission’s eyes by hiding behind the anonymity that CDBS’s electronic filing system might seem to provide, think again. The Commission knows all and sees all – well, it certainly can find out a lot, if not all – and any thought of Internet anonymity is largely illusory. Some folks in Michigan recently found that out the hard way.
Two small television stations have notified the FCC that they prefer the more populous environs of Delaware and New Jersey (their licensee's home for more than 30 years) to the wide open spaces of Nevada and Wyoming. And, strange as it may seem, the law is on their side. 
The arrival (at last!!) of the end of the full power DTV transition is having ripple effects beyond the full-service TV industry and its viewing public. Low Power TV and TV translator stations have been hanging fire until the Big Day, waiting for full power stations to give up one of their channels so that the final lay of the full-service digital TV land could be established. The big question has been who can file for what, and when they can file for it.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That appears to be the motto of Rep. Anna Eshoo, who has re-introduced the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (
In an 
As the June 12 DTV transition date screams down toward us, the Commission has, yet again, changed some of the ground rules – but this time, it has done so in a way which may make life easier for transitioning stations. Back in March, the FCC had directed that stations could not crank up their post-transition DTV operations prior to 11:59:59 p.m. (local time) on June 12 without prior Commission approval. (On the other hand, stations were permitted to turn off their analogs anytime they chose, as long as they gave the Commission advance notice of the time.)
A week and a half ago we were advised by a senior Media Bureau staffer that licensees who would ordinarily have to file biennial ownership reports (FCC Form 323) on June 1 and August 1 would still have to do so this year, even though the Commission has already decided that everybody is going to have file such reports on November 1. (The staffer indicated that the Commission had not decided how to deal with folks owing reports on October 1.).jpg)
Next week will be June already, and we are fast approaching the deadline for applications of the upcoming Auction 79, featuring 122 vacant FM channels up for grabs. As we 
We could do an analysis of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's past opinions and read the tea leaves as to how her appointment to the Court will affect broadcasters, newspapers, media and other First Amendment concerns. 
The NAB is running a cool new contest through its "
The Commission has asked for further comment on a proposal to increase the maximum digital power for FM stations using HD Radio™ technology. As 
The FCC has 
The .jpg)
Last week, I delivered to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a letter urging her to look into the impact on minority broadcasters of the 
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) sent a four-person contingent to the National Translator Association Convention in Denver last week to talk about their grant program for digital transmitters for Class A, LPTV, and TV Translator stations. (We blogged about that program last week 
It appears that the Commission’s technical team has successfully resolved the 
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has finally issued a “Notice of Availability of Funds” (Notice) and on July 13, 2009, will start accepting applications for grants for upgrading Class A, Low Power TV (LPTV), TV Translator and TV Booster transmitters to digital operation. All you Federal Register gurus can find the 
We 
The House Judiciary Committee is poised to "mark up" (vote on) 
If you think you might be needing to build a tower in the next several years, listen up. The birding lobby has opened a new offensive in its long-running effort to force the FCC to give greater consideration to bird-related concerns when it authorizes tower construction.
My colleague 
We wrote a couple weeks ago about a 
“It’s like throwing a surprise party for a friend, and at the end of the night your friend charges you for an appearance fee.”
In a decision which comes as no real surprise, the 
Do you know what constitutes an antenna farm? 
Just because the fortune-teller got it right does not necessarily mean that we have to like it when the accurately-predicted future becomes present reality. Like when we 
Radio stations that stream their content onto the Internet will want to keep an eye on a patent lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Several major radio companies have been accused of patent infringement by engaging in “content replacement” – that is, they substituted Internet-friendly content in place of more locally-oriented content that went out over the air. While the complaint provides no details, it suggests that the local content which was removed consisted, at least in part, of commercials. 
With the public issuance of letters (
The FCC has hit up a manufacturer of personal computer TV tuner cards for a $175,000 forfeiture. Why? Because the manufacturer marketed cards that have only analog and not digital tuning capability. The 
Word on the street (actually, word around the FCC) is that the Commission is embarking on a quest for what some might view as the bureaucratic equivalent of the Impossible Dream: an Uber-consolidated on-line licensing system to unify the balkanized collection of existing systems currently in use. This would mean “hello” to a new “Consolidated Licensing System” and “see ya” to the Universal Licensing System (ULS), OET’s Experimental Licensing System, the International Bureau’s “MyIBFS”, and the Media Bureau’s (apparently mis-named, or at least prematurely named) “Consolidated Database System” (CDBS). At this point, it’s not clear whether any other systems – such as the FCC’s tower registration operation – would also be included.
With the Performance Rights Act creeping like a weed around Capitol Hill, the NAB is going grassroots, having created a new website that allows broadcasters to take action to defeat the legislative proposal that would require them to, for the first time, pay to perform sound recordings in radio broadcasts. 
If you have a broadcast construction permit that’s about to expire, listen up. The Media Bureau has provided some 
Do you still harbor some notion that the FCC’s cold-eyed zombie-like insistence on keeping analog service alive everywhere for as long as possible makes sense? Consider this.
Sometimes it doesn’t pay to get creative, especially where the FCC’s rules are concerned. This was apparent in an April 1 
Just a quick update on some recent stories we've had on CommLawBlog. There's a common thread running through all three. A free CommLawBlog subscription to the first person who can find it...
Reconsideration petitions in the FCC’s “white space” proceeding – about unlicensed devices in locally vacant TV channels – show the controversy is far from over.
Back in the day, the conventional “environmental” certification required of construction permit applicants tended to be limited to the (usually) non-existent potential RF effects on passers-by at the proposed transmitter site. But in 2005 a “Nationwide Programmatic Agreement” (NPA) entered into by the Commission, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers became effective. (A copy of the NPA and related information may be found 
With several trillion dollars’ worth of bills stacking up on the kitchen table, the Senate is thinking about searching for quarters under the sofa cushions.
The Enforcement Bureau has come down hard – very hard – on a low power FM station for broadcasting thousands of prohibited advertisements over the course of some 14 months. Total fine specified in the .jpg)
Late last month we 
You may remember our 
It’s déjà vu all over again. As expected, the Commission has acted, once again on a Friday (and yes, again on a Friday the 13th), to revise its required procedures with regard to termination of analog operations and consumer education announcements. The new order may be found 
The sharp-eyed policy wonks here inside the Beltway spotted a line item in President Obama’s budget proposal called a “spectrum license user fee.” This tax – sorry, fee – would be assessed against users of spectrum blocks that are licensed but not auctioned. These include most AM, FM, and TV, most two-way mobile radio and fixed microwave, and all satellite, amateur radio, and several other categories. Unlicensed spectrum, such as that used for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, would be exempt. Even so, the new fee is projected to bring in $200 million in 2010, increasing steadily to $550 million by 2019.
Editors' Note: Let’s be honest. The first day on a new job usually stinks. Everything’s new and different. Everybody’s trying to weasel up to your good side. Big and Important Stuff definitely needs to get done, but right out of the box it can be hard to tell the Big and Important Stuff from the Totally Unnecessary and Possibly Counterproductive Stuff. 
Back in November, the FCC adopted rules that will eventually allow unlicensed communications devices to use vacant TV channels: the so-called “white space” frequencies. We outlined the details 
What a difference a couple of weeks make! Remember a week or two ago, when the FCC came out with 
The 
We now understand that Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing on the 
When Congress tells the FCC to do something, the FCC has no choice: it’s got to follow orders. Back in December, Congress told the FCC to start an inquiry into “advanced blocking technologies and existing parental empowerment tools” so, sure enough, that’s what the FCC has done. On March 2 the Commission released a 
There will be a hearing on the Performance Rights Act, but will it be fair? This week's 
Now and then we get an item down here in the CommLawBlog bunker that leaves us scratching our heads.
We hear that the 
The TV “white space” rules appeared in the 
That loud cracking noise you may have heard on your way home from your long Presidents’ Day weekend out of town was probably the sound of the FCC breaking its arm trying to pat itself on the back about – what else? – the DTV transition. In what is fast becoming 
As anticipated on our posting on Black Friday the 13th, the FCC's Media Bureau Staff had no respite over the holiday weekend. On President's Day itself, they issued a 
After the sun had set on Washington, D.C., on the notable combination of Friday the 13th and Valentine’s Day eve, the FCC released a 
And you thought that a contest on your website couldn’t get you in trouble with the FCC? No such luck – you’ve got at least one more think coming!
In a case viewed with considerable interest by many wireless industry participants, the 
At around 10:00 p.m. on February 11, word came in that the FCC had released yet another 
Word has just arrived that President Obama has signed the DTV Delay Act into law. That makes it official: the national DTV transition date has moved from February 17 to June 12. In case you've been stuck in a cave for the last couple of weeks, see our earlier posts (e.g., 
With just a week to go before the still-on-the-books February 17 DTV transition date, things at the FCC were continuing to percolate.
Almost immediately after the House finally passed the DTV Delay Act with 
Talk about irony. Just one day after the 50th Anniversary of “
Jumping the gun ever so slightly – after all, the DTV Delay Act still hadn’t been signed into law by the President (at least as far as we can tell) – on Thursday afternoon, February 5, the FCC released its 
Word just in from Capitol Hill indicates that the House has passed the DTV extension bill by a resounding 264-158 vote (wait – aren’t those almost the same numbers that came up short in 
Last September 
The concept of “harmful interference” is central to FCC spectrum policy. The FCC has never said just what the term means. Oddly, though, that might be a good thing.
Even if Congress finally gets its act together and extends the DTV transition date, we expect that many, if not most, TV licensees will still be inclined to shut down their analog operations as of February 17 anyway. (The “DTV Delay” bill already passed twice by the Senate specifically contemplates such pre-June 12 analog turn-offs.)
Looks like it’s mulligan time on Capitol Hill. As 
This just in (at 1:04 p.m. on January 28): 
Apparently there is some kind of big football game upon us. Not really caring for the sport myself and wanting to stay out of trouble, I won't actually say the name of the game or the teams involved. What's that? You didn't know about the implications of using the NFL's registered trademarks without their permission? 
From much of the trade press coverage of the 
As directed by Congress last month, the 
Apparently not content to let Congress and the incoming administration be the only ones to 
When it comes to inevitabilities, the February 17, 2009 DTV transition deadline has, in the minds of many, been right up there with death and taxes since Congress wrote that date into law three years ago. But as 
With the release of six notices of apparent liability (NAL) at the very tail end of 2008, the FCC has given us a glimpse of what EEO enforcement is likely to look like for the foreseeable future. And the outlook is what you might expect: continued emphasis on detailed record-keeping despite the absence of any indication that any unlawful employment discrimination has occurred.
That loud clunking noise you heard a little while ago was the NTIA’s DTV converter coupon program hitting its upper spending limit. That’s right, it appears that all of the $1.34 billion allocated by Congress has been sucked up by DTV coupons already issued. So NTIA has announced that, until Congress slips it some more cash (or until it hits the Powerball), anyone sending in for a DTV coupon will be placed on a waiting list. Don’t call them, they’ll call you.
If you’re planning on submitting comments in response to the FCC’s 
As we 
Having canceled its December 18 open meeting and substituted a quick conference call on December 30 to meet the statutory monthly meeting requirement, the FCC now seems to relish putting out significant items just in time to keep everyone working over Christmas. The latest example: the December 23 (that’s right, Christmas Eve Eve) release of a 
It’s official. According to the 
The Ghost of Public Notices Past dropped by the FCC recently, rattling its creaky 24-year-old regulatory chains. While the .jpg)
On Friday, December 12, 
The FCC has 
It looks like over-the-air analog TV will live on beyond February 17, 2009, thanks to Congress – but at most it will live on only for 30 days, and only subject to severe content limitations.
Back in September we .jpg)
With much ballyhoo, on December 9 
During my trip to Venezuela earlier this year as part of a delegation of the 
Thudding a 
Elvis has left the building. The magic number for David Gilliland and the Number 38 DIGITAL TV TRANSITION Ford Fusion is 2009. The 2008 NASCAR season wrapped up on November 16 at the Ford 400 in Homestead, Florida, where the good news was that Gilliland finally managed to finish a race while sporting the bureaucratically text-heavy/graphics-free/black-and-white standards of its sponsor, the FCC..jpg)
The FCC has its hand in more broadcasters' pockets again. Effective November 10, 2009, responsibility for annual fees of 5% of revenues from ancillary or supplemental services (e.g., data transmission) extends to DTV permittees as well as DTV licensees. The fees are due on December 1 for the period through the preceding September 30 of each year, accompanied by FCC Form 317 (which must be filed electronically through CDBS). While DTV licensees have had to deal with Form 317 for some time, this year will be the first for DTV permittees – but since the impending DTV transition has already triggered an avalanche of new paperwork for DTV permittees (including quarterly public education reports and construction status reports, not to mention mod applications and license applications), what’s one more report, anyway?
Attention all broadcasters! The fall fashion season has arrived! Don’t be caught wearing last season’s plain, boring, non-neon duds! It's not just fashion – it's the law!
For decades the Federal Communications Commission has refused, as a matter of policy, to allow lenders and equity investors to take security interests in the FCC licenses that permit spectrum users — broadcasters, wireless operators and all the rest — to use the spectrum. 
Engineering and politics do not mix well.
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The FCC has voted to allow unlicensed devices to use "white spaces" in the TV band for wireless broadband. Preliminarily, only devices that determine available channels based on geolocation and a database of existing users will be authorized, but procedures have been put in place to allow future approval of devices that choose available channels based on only signal-sensing.
In a 
In November, 2007, the Commission imposed a “viewability” requirement on cable operators in anticipation of the DTV Transition. That requirement – which was viewed by some as imposing a kind of dual-carriage obligation on cable systems – provided that cable operators will (until February, 2012) have to either: (a) continue to provide an analog tier, but down-convert the digital signal of must-carry stations into analog format; or (b) transmit the signal of must-carry stations in digital format only (for systems which are digital-only) while ensuring that all subscribers, including those with analog TV receivers, have the necessary equipment to view the broadcast content. We described the “viewability” rules in the 
In September's ".jpg)
In our 
If you thought that the departure of Elliott Spitzer from the public scene might have put out the FCC’s fire for enforcement of the payola rules, think again. That fire is still blazing. In recent days the Enforcement Bureau has sent out letters of inquiry to a number of Spanish-language radio stations demanding responses concerning allegations of payola.
We offer no comment on the story (“
Another omen of the coming DTV Transition – the FCC has added a new search option to its CDBS Public Access menu. Now you have the option of clicking on “Search for DTV Station Information”, which will whisk you to 
The headline on our 
It always looked good on paper. Every city has dozens of TV channels sitting empty. Why not use them for something? As Wi-Fi became popular, Wi-Fi-like unlicensed operation became the application of choice for these “white space” channels – so called because they show up in white on a frequency map. Big money signed on: Microsoft, Google, Motorola, and Intel, among others. Coalitions formed. Websites launched. Herds of dark-suited lawyers roamed the halls of the FCC.
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For years a number of programmers have complained that their requests for carriage have not been treated fairly by a number of large cable operators. Now those complaints have been referred to an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), who has been charged with the task of “resolv[ing] the factual disputes” and recommending some resolution of the dispute within 60 days. .jpg)
Last month, in a 
At 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 2, most of us will return to Standard Time. Historically, that change has tended to affect mainly AM stations whose nighttime facilities differ from their daytime facilities – since the switch from day-to-night and vice versa is normally dependent on the local time of day, which obviously changes with the return of standard time..jpg)
As reported 
The Commission has given the 
It’s official!! The FCC has announced that the deadline for filing 2008 regulatory fees is 11:59 p.m. on 
As part of its effort to completely clear all broadcast operations out of the 700 MHz band following the February 17, 2009, DTV transition, the Commission has imposed a freeze on any new authorizations for low power auxiliary equipment in that band. (Actually, the precise frequency block at issue runs from 698-806 MHz, but that chunk of spectrum is commonly referred to as the 700 MHz band.) Perhaps more importantly, the Commission has also proposed to modify all outstanding licenses which provide for such operation – the proposed modification being that authority to operate in the 700 MHz band will terminate as of February 17, 2009.
Vacuum the red carpet, gas up the welcome wagon, get a couple of keys to the city copied up and notify the media. The