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 PUBLIC  NOTICE 
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 Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12th  St.,  S.  W. 
 Washington,  D.  C.  20554 


 News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov 
 TTY:  1-  888-  835-  5322 


 DA  06-  378  February  17,  2006 
 Guidelines  for  Interference  Conflict  Analysis  in  the  Second  Round  of  DTV  Channel  Elections 
 By  letters  dated  February  1  and  2,  2006,  the  Media  Bureau’s  Video  Division  notified  30  licensees  that  their  proposed  digital  operation  on  their  elected  channel  would  result  in 
 impermissible  interference  to  one  or  more  stations,  or  that  the  proposed  facility  did  not  comply  with  the  Commission's  requirements  for  parties  to  a  Negotiated  Channel  Agreement  (NCA). 
 These  licensees  must  file  a  Second  Round  Conflict  Decision  Form  385  electronically  through  the  Media  Bureau’s  Consolidated  Database  System  (CDBS)  online  electronic  forms  system, 
 indicating  how  they  will  resolve  the  interference  conflict,  no  later  than  April  3,  2006.  Licensees  that  propose  to  reduce  their  technical  operating  facilities  for  their  proposed  elected  channel  must 
 attach  Schedule  B  to  FCC  Form  385  to  specify  their  proposed  technical  parameters.  In  addition,  the  licensees  that  have  proposed  to  increase  their  technical  operating  facilities  to  serve  larger 
 coverage  areas  as  part  of  an  NCA  must  amend  their  proposals,  no  later  than  March  3,  2006,  so  that  their  proposed  coverage  contour  does  not  extend  beyond  the  coverage  contour  of  their 
 currently  certified  facilities. 
 Licensees  who  are  unable  to  resolve  their  interference  and/  or  coverage  problems  on  their  elected  channel  must  decide  whether  to  request  a  contingent  channel  as  their  tentative  channel 
 designation  or  to  participate  in  the  Third  Round.  Our  original  plan  for  this  stage  of  the  election  process  was  that  a  licensee  that  could  not  resolve  its  Second  Round  conflict  on  its  elected 
 channel  would  be  limited  to  requesting  the  contingent  channel  that  it  had  identified  on  its  FCC  Form  384.  That  contingent  channel  would  then  be  evaluated  based  on  the  licensee’s  certified 
 coverage  area,  and  we  did  not  plan  on  affording  licensees  an  opportunity  to  request  reduced  operating  facilities  to  resolve  engineering  conflicts.  However,  we  now  are  reaching  the  end  of 
 the  channel  election  process  and  face  a  relatively  small  number  of  difficult  cases  that  remain  to  be  accommodated  with  tentative  channel  designations.  For  many  of  these  stations,  the  channel 
 options  are  very  limited.  We  are  concerned  that  our  policy  of  requiring  pre-  elected  contingent  channels  to  be  studied  based  on  certified  coverage  area  and  then  not  making  assignments  if  the 
 elected  contingent  channel  would  result  in  impermissible  interference  to  any  station  would  force  most  of  these  stations  to  the  Third  Round.  We  also  note  that  these  Second  Round  stations  could 
 have  identified  any  in-  core  channel  for  their  FCC  Form  384  contingent  election. 
 Therefore,  in  order  to  resolve  as  many  Second  Round  elections  as  possible  and  thus  expedite  the  conclusion  of  the  channel  election  process,  we  will  allow  limited  additional  flexibility  to  those 
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 licensees  unable  to  resolve  their  elected-  channel  conflicts.  Specifically,  such  licensees  may  propose  any  in-  core  channel  as  their  contingent  channel  and  may  propose  reduced  technical 
 operating  facilities  for  the  contingent  channel.  To  accommodate  this  flexibility  on  the  existing  FCC  Form  385,  licensees  that  wish  to  submit  contingent-  channel  should  check  Box  2.  b;  in 
 addition,  licensees  that  wish  to  reduce  technical  facilities  for  their  contingent-  channel  should  attached  Schedule  B  to  FCC  Form  385.  Licensees  proposing  to  use  a  contingent  channel  will  not 
 be  afforded  an  additional  opportunity  in  the  Second  Round  to  resolve  any  interference  conflicts,  but  will  be  required  to  participate  in  the  Third  Round  of  elections  if  their  FCC  Form  385 
 proposal  results  in  an  interference  conflict. 


 For  additional  information,  contact  Gordon  Godfrey  of  the  Engineering  Division  at  202-  418-  2193,  or  gordon.  godfrey@  fcc.  gov,  or  Nazifa  Sawez  of  the  Video  Division,  Media  Bureau,  at 
 (202)  418-  7059,  or  nazifa.  sawez@  fcc.  gov.  TTY:  (202)  418-  7172. 
 --  FCC-- 
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