STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER ROBERT M. MCDOWELL
Re: Third Periodic Review of the Commission’s Rules and Policies Affecting the 
Conversion to Digital Television, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, MB Docket 
No. 07-91
This Notice provides a progress report on the digital transition, proposes deadlines 
and procedures to ensure that the February 17, 2009 transition date is met and offers 
regulatory flexibility to broadcasters to facilitate their construction of digital facilities by 
the deadline.  Since Congress established the transition deadline, the Commission has 
moved beyond simply ensuring that stations were capable of operating in digital to focus 
on facilitating broadcasters’ construction of their final, post-transition channel facilities.  
In this Notice, we analyze and consider the specifics on when stations may and must 
cease analog operations, when they may and must begin operating on their post-transition 
digital channel and what regulatory flexibility we can provide to ensure that the 
complicated, coordinated switch to DTV becomes a reality.   
I thank Media Bureau for their diligent and tireless efforts to produce this 
comprehensive notice.  Much more work remains to be done, but we are all striving to 
make the transition as smooth as possible for the industry and for consumers so that the 
benefits of digital television technology can be enjoyed by the public without TV sets 
going dark. I thank the Chairman for his leadership on these issues and support this 
Notice.