STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER MICHAEL J. COPPS
Re:  Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Memorandum Opinion and Order to 
Establish Rules for Digital Low Power Television, Television Translator, and 
Television Booster Stations to Amend Rules for Digital Class A Television 
Stations
After helping to navigate the waters of the full-power digital transition, I take any 
and all transitions more seriously. In the DTV transition, new challenges kept rising up, 
old presumptions were frequently invalidated, pieces of the puzzle didn’t get put together 
the way they should, and all the relevant stakeholders didn’t really come cooperatively 
together until very late in the day. Hopefully this time will be different.  We will learn 
from the previous transition and improve upon it. Obviously this is a different transition 
in many ways, but in equally many ways, it is very similar.
This will be a complex undertaking. Its success will depend upon close 
partnering between the private and public sectors; it will require effective consumer 
outreach and providing assistance to consumers who need help to transition their 
televisions to accommodate digital technology. And it also will call for good technical 
knowledge, adequate signal testing, and taking into consideration the myriad factors that 
can influence TV reception in diverse geographical settings.
By launching this proceeding we are not only attempting to complete the digital 
television transition, but we are also beginning the next phase of low power television. In 
many communities these low power stations provide unique local content, sometimes in 
diverse languages, and they furnish much-needed independent programming in many 
corners of the country. Low-power television serves the public interest—and that should 
be all the motivation we need to ensure a smooth digital transition and, going forward, an 
environment that contributes to the growing vibrancy of low-power television.
I urge all interested parties to respond to this Further Notice in order to get the 
best information and analysis possible to guide our ongoing and future decision- making 
in this endeavor. I thank the Bureau for its work in putting this item together and I look 
forward to working with it, with the Chairman and with my colleagues to make this a 
transition of which we can be truly proud.