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 NEWS  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12  th  Street,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  This  is  an  unofficial  announcement  of  Commission  action.  Release  of  the  full  text  of  a  Commission  order  constitutes  official  action.  See  MCI  v.  FCC.  515  F  2d  385  (D.  C.  Circ  1974).  News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  TTY:  1-  888-  835-  5322 
 For  Immediate  Release  News  Media  Contact:  June  8,  2005  Rebecca  Fisher  (202)  418-  2359 
 FCC  Advances  DTV  Channel  Election  Process 
 Washington,  DC  –  The  Federal  Communication  Commission  (FCC)  today  moved  closer  to  completing  one  of  the  DTV  transition’s  key  remaining  tasks:  determining  permanent  digital 
 channels  for  the  nation’s  TV  broadcasters. 
 In  the  Second  DTV  Periodic  Report  and  Order,  released  August  2004,  the  Commission  adopted  a  multi-  round  channel  election  process  by  which  TV  broadcasters  would  receive  their 
 ultimate  DTV  channel  inside  the  “core”  broadcast  spectrum  (channels  2-  51).  In  February  2005,  nearly  all  TV  broadcasters,  over  1,700,  filed  an  election  for  their  channel  preference  for  final 
 DTV  operations  with  the  FCC.  Of  that  number,  1,628  stations  elected  either  their  existing  NTSC  (analog)  or  digital  channel.  Another  50  stations  elected  to  forego  a  Round  One  election  and 
 participate  in  Round  Two.  In  addition,  62  stations  participated  in  37  Negotiated  Channel  Arrangements  (NCAs)  that  were  filed  with  the  FCC.  In  an  NCA,  stations  within  a  market  were 
 permitted  to  enter  into  an  agreement  to  elect  channels  other  than  their  own,  so  long  as  every  station  potentially  affected  was  included  in  the  agreement. 


 Today,  the  FCC  took  two  important  steps  towards  creating  a  Final  DTV  Table  of  Allotments.  First,  the  Media  Bureau  released  an  Order  approving  25  NCAs  and  rejecting  12 
 NCAs.  The  stations  participating  in  the  approved  NCAs  will  receive  tentative  channel  designations  for  the  channels  contained  in  the  agreements;  the  stations  participating  in  the 
 rejected  NCAs  reverted  to  their  alternate  channel  elections  and  were  considered  during  the  general  Round  One  conflict  analysis. 


 Second,  the  Commission  sent  approximately  155  conflict  letters  to  stations  that  elected  their  NTSC  channel  for  digital  operation  but  FCC  engineering  analysis  indicated  would  result  in 
 impermissible  interference.  The  stations  now  have  60  days  to  inform  the  FCC  how  they  will  resolve  the  interference  conflict. 


 The  Commission  will  complete  Round  One  later  this  summer  and  commence  Round  Two  elections  in  the  fall.  In  the  Second  DTV  Periodic  Report  and  Order,  the  FCC  announced  its  plan 
 to  issue  a  Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking  proposing  a  new  DTV  Table  of  Allotments  by  August  2006,  and  is  committed  to  meeting  this  deadline.  An  updated  channel  election  timeline  is 
 attached.  --  FCC-- 
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