PUBLIC NOTICE 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 11-959 Released: May 31, 2011 FREEZE ON THE FILING OF PETITIONS FOR DIGITAL CHANNEL SUBSTITUTIONS, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY On May 30, 2008, the Media Bureau lifted its freeze on the filing of rulemaking petitions by licensed television stations requesting channel substitutions to the Post-Transition Table of DTV Allotments.1 Since lifting this freeze, the Media Bureau has completed almost 100 channel substitution proceedings. Subsequent to the Media Bureau lifting its freeze, the National Broadband Plan was released. 2 The Broadband Plan announced an effort to identify 500 megahertz of spectrum that can be reallocated from existing uses to enable the expansion of new mobile, fixed and unlicensed broadband service.3 To aid in this endeavor, the Broadband Plan recommended, among other things, that the Commission initiate a rulemaking proceeding to reallocate 120 megahertz from the broadcast television bands (channels 2 – 51), and also to consider methodologies for repacking full-power television channels to increase the efficiency of channel use.4 The Commission has now issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking as the first step in a series of actions towards achieving these goals.5 To permit the Commission to evaluate its reallocation and repacking proposals and their impact on the Post-Transition Table of DTV Allotments, the Media Bureau deems it appropriate to freeze the acceptance of additional rulemaking petitions to change channels at this time. Furthermore, the Media Bureau has been accepting channel substitution rulemaking petitions since May 30, 2008, and believes that those stations interested in changing channels have had sufficient time to evaluate engineering options and submit rulemaking petitions. The Media Bureau will continue its processing of rulemaking petitions that are already on file with the Office of the Secretary. For additional information or questions, please contact Kevin Harding (technical) or Joyce Bernstein (legal) of the Video Division, Media Bureau at (202) 418-1600. -- FCC -- 1 See “Commission Lifts the Freeze on the Filing of Maximization Applications and Petitions for Digital Channel Substitutions, Effective Immediately,” Public Notice, 23 FCC Rcd 8330 (MB 2008). 2 See Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan, Federal Communications Commission, Washington, DC (March 2010); available at http://www.broadband.gov/plan (Broadband Plan). 3 Broadband Plan at 84. 4 Broadband Plan at 88. 5 In the Matter of Innovation in the Broadcast Television Bands: Allocations, Channel Sharing and Improvements to the VHF, ET Docket No. 10-235, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 25 FCC Rcd 16498 (2010).