We hear that the Second Report and Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SRONPRM) which the FCC adopted last Friday night relative to the on-going DTV transition will be published in the Federal Register tomorrow, Friday, February 27. (Actually, we found that out from a convenient but little known feature of the U.S. Archives website, which provides a glimpse at the contents of the next day’s Federal Register.) We reported on the SRONPRM on Saturday, February 21, the day after it was released (what the heck – if the FCC has to work late into the weekend in these trying times, the least we can do is follow suit).
Most (but not necessarily all) of the rules adopted in the SRONPRM take effect “upon publication of the [SRONPRM] in the Federal Register”, so you can now figure that that date will be February 27. And as to the rules proposed by the Commission there, you will recall that the FCC provided for a less than generous comment period amounting to “5 days after publication in the Federal Register”. Since the Commission didn’t qualify that to mean only business days, we figure that comments will be due on Wednesday, March 4. If you have anything to say about the proposed rules, be sure to mark your calendar so you can meet that deadline, since the Commission won’t be accepting any reply comments.