FM Translator Filing Window on the Horizon
The FCC 2017 filing window for new FM translator licenses is expected to be announced soon and generate hundreds of applications, radio industry officials and attorneys told us Monday. The opening of the promised 2017 window was added to the list of items on circulation Friday. Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford said in a blog post he expects the window “very soon.”
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Industry attorneys and an FCC official don’t expect the 2017 window to function much differently from the previous AM translator window. That window allowed AM stations to apply to move existing FM translators up to 250 miles, and the 2017 window would allow AM stations to create new translators. Though Chairman Ajit Pai’s longtime vocal support of FM translators means the item’s approval is seen as essentially inevitable, the 2017 window will open amid increasing concerns about translator interference with low-power FM (LPFM) and full-power FM stations, radio officials said, including recent petitions about translator interference from NAB and Prometheus Radio Project. In a speech at the NAB show, Pai said the translator window will happen in the summer, and said IT work on the window had begun (see 1704250065).
FCC officials expressed doubt before approval of the AM revitalization order that there was a need for translator application windows both before and after the incentive auction. Radio attorneys and brokers said they expect a fair amount of interest in the upcoming window. The last window led to roughly 900 translator relocation applications, and Womble Carlyle radio attorney John Garziglia expects only a slightly smaller number this go-round, “a good amount of activity.” Many broadcasters waited out the previous translator window to take advantage of this one, he said. Since the 2017 window translators are new, they won’t require the payment of tens of thousands of dollars to other broadcasters as a purchase price -- that made the 2017 window more attractive to more cash-strapped broadcasters, attorneys said. An FM translator is “a godsend” for smaller AM broadcasters, allowing them to broadcast more of the time and reach a wider audience, said REC Networks’ Michelle Brady.
Like the previous window, the 2017 version is expected to be divided into two parts, with class C and B AM broadcasters getting first crack at the translator applications, followed by a window for all AM stations, attorneys said. Each licensee gets only one translator, Oxenford said. Only AM stations that didn't file for a translator relying on the 250-mile waivers available last year are eligible to apply for translators in these upcoming windows. Because Pai treated the AM revitalization as a signature issue of his, it’s seen as unlikely for the window to be conducted much differently from the previous one, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Dan Kirkpatrick.
The LPFM industry is concerned about the proliferation of translators and the possible “boxing in” of LPFM stations, said Brady. FCC interference rules prevent LPFM stations from being located in proximity to stations they could interfere with, so an increase in translators can limit the options for LPFM stations to relocate, she said. This concern and the upcoming translator window are cited in Prometheus’s petition for a stay of the recent rule change relaxing restrictions on translator location. “It is indisputable that AM licensees will file hundreds, if not thousands, of new translator applications as soon as the new rules become effective,” said the petition. “The harm that LPFM stations and their listeners face will be immediate and irreparable.” The looser siting rules may make the 2017 window particularly attractive to some broadcasters, Garziglia said. The FCC hasn't responded to the Prometheus petition, an attorney for Prometheus said.
NAB also pointed to the upcoming window as raising some interference issues. Increase in translator use has “led to a substantial expansion in the number and use of FM translators, raising the risk of interference conflicts between translators and full-power FM stations,” NAB said. “This risk will likely continue to rise with the upcoming translator auction window.” NAB filed in opposition to the Prometheus petition.
Brady said the translator window is important for keeping smaller AM stations going, which she said serve many of the same localism and community purposes as LPFM stations. REC has petitioned the FCC to allow LPFM stations to apply for translators, she said.