If you are planning to file comments on the FCC's effort to implement the "analog nightlight" service, you'd better put aside thoughts of a pleasant New Year's Eve and New Year's Day holiday and start drafting now. Comments are officially due on Monday, January 5, 2009. Reply comments are due three days later, on Thursday, January 8.… Continue Reading
Acting with blazing speed, on Christmas Eve the Commission released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) setting out the tentative standards and processes for implementation of the SAFER Act which was signed into law on December 23, just the day before the NPRM was released. The SAFER Act - which the FCC now catchily refers to as the "Analog Nightlight Act" - authorizes continued, albeit very limited, operation of some analog TV stations beyond the previously-established February 17, 2009, termination date of such operation.… Continue Reading
It’s official. According to the White House, President Bush has signed the SAFER Act on December 23. Analog TV will live on for another 30 days – subject to the limitations we described in our earlier post.… Continue Reading
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. On December 11, Congress passed the Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness ("SAFER") Act.… Continue Reading