DTV Nightlight Order Circulating; Quick Vote Expected
Commissioners are poised to approve a DTV order letting full-power broadcasters transmit in analog educational information on the transition and emergency messages for 30 days after the DTV switch, several agency officials said. The so-called nightlight plan got backing in all initial comments on a rulemaking (CD Jan 7 p5) and likely will get commissioner approval, they said. The order circulated midday Tuesday, said an FCC official.
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All commissioners are willing to vote for the order by Thursday, the deadline for the FCC to set rules under the congressional act authorizing the nightlight service, said several agency officials. Although the date of the DTV transition now is uncertain (see separate report in this issue), the commission plans to move ahead with approving the order unless told otherwise by Congress, they said. The nightlight plan is set to take effect for 30 days after Feb. 17 but could be pushed back to run that same amount of time if a new nationwide deadline is set, said industry and agency officials.
Circulation of the order was delayed once. The office of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin had said the order was likely to be circulated Monday, said agency officials. Monday night, Martin’s office said the order would be delayed, they said. The little time to approve the order -- the only order scheduled for a vote at Thursday’s monthly open commission meeting -- may complicate commissioner negotiations over any last-minute changes, said an agency official. But commissioners may have an easier time making revisions because they all saw in December a draft rulemaking notice before it circulated, letting them eye and suggest changes then, said FCC officials. FCC spokespeople didn’t reply to a message seeking comment.
The order contains one major change from the rulemaking notice, allowing sponsorship messages, said an agency official. The order doesn’t require stations to transmit in analog for 30 days, but encourages them to do so for at least two weeks after the switch to digital, the official said. The order addresses broadcasters’ concerns that paperwork burdens to run nightlight stations be reduced and that stations not listed in the rulemaking notice as being nightlight eligible have an easier time getting approval, the official said.
Delaying the DTV switch won’t make moot the plan, it would just require the period for analog nightlight broadcasts to be extended until after the transition, said commission and industry officials. “The current law is still the current law, so one has to make plans to meet the current law, but if the date does get moved back, then certainly the nightlight date would be moved back, too,” said David Donovan, president of the Association for Maximum Service TV. “In that context the nightlight plan is still important.” Broadcasters likely would run nightlight stations “to the extent technically feasible” if the transition gets pushed off, said an NAB spokesman. “We'll do everything in our power to ensure its success.”
Spending thousands of dollars to run old analog equipment has its skeptics. Gray TV isn’t interested in nightlight service, said James Ocon, vice president of technology. Many of the company’s analog antenna tower tubes are near the end of their “useful life,” and Gray didn’t plan to replace them, he said.