Broadcasters Welcome Pai Proposal on Translator Interference Complaint Process
LAS VEGAS -- FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's proposal on changing the process for interference complaints between FM translators and full-power stations is expected to be get broad support from industry, broadcasters and their attorneys told us. Though few details were released, industry officials don't expect much push back from the eighth floor.
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Pai announced the item's circulation at the NAB Show Tuesday, along with further efforts on pirate radio. Broadcasters and station lawyers said after Pai's speech they are still concerned about the possible relaxation of AM/FM subcaps and a possible C4 FM class, topics the chairman didn't mention. “The goal is to simplify and expedite the complaint process,” Pai said of the translator item.
The draft NPRM will seek comment on allowing translator stations to resolve interference complaints by moving to any available frequency using a minor modification application, Pai said Tuesday. Currently, such moves are much more limited. Making it easier for translators to respond to an interference complaint by moving rather than being bumped off air was a priority for broadcasters at a panel with Audio Division Chief Albert Shuldiner Monday (see 1804090048). Broadcast legal experts also noted as issues they would want addressed in the NPRM: deadlines for responses and FCC actions, a process for requirements for establishing the legitimacy of interference complaints, and clarity on how rule changes would affect pending complaints.
The NPRM also proposes requiring a minimum number of interference complaints against a translator, which along with the relaxed frequency change rules was a provision of NAB's petition for rulemaking requesting FCC reform of translator interference rules. Lawyers said that could indicate the draft NPRM closely follows the petition rather than a similar one from Aztec Capital Partners, which focused on protecting translators from interference complaints by distant FM stations. Pai didn't specify how many complaints the NPRM proposes setting as the minimum, but the association's proposal was for at least six complaints. Shuldiner had said the bureau was considering both petitions.
Large and small broadcasters own both full-power stations and translators, so most of the industry supports changes to the interference complaint process, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney Howard Liberman in an interview: "This isn't about big guys versus small guys." Eagle Communications owns full-power stations that have suffered interference from translators and recently acquired translators in the FCC's AM revitalization windows, General Manager Gary Exline said. The agency's current method for resolving interference issues needs to be reformed, he said.
Most broadcasters agree that translators should be able to relocate more easily, but industry may be divided over whether a minimum complaint number would still leave it too easy for a full-power station to bump a distant translator, said Womble Bond radio lawyer John Garziglia. He represents Aztec Capital Partners and also Radio One in an interference complaint over an Indiana translator operated by the broadcaster. The FCC should “protect local listeners” from losing access to their nearby stations over interference complaints filed by far away full-power stations, Garziglia said. Low-power FM groups have opposed rules that facilitated translator relocation (see 1704110041) and may also be concerned about the FCC proposal, an attorney said.
Pai on Tuesday also touted efforts against pirate radio operators, and a news release Wednesday detailed the agency's “ramped up” enforcement. “Since January 2017, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has undertaken a whopping 306 pirate-radio investigations and has issued 210 Notices of Unlicensed Operation,” Pai said at the show, to the loudest applause of his speech. The commission recently seized broadcast equipment from pirates in Miami and New York, Pai said. It announced seizure of pirate radio equipment in Boston last month (see 1803300041).
Broadcasters and industry lawyers are pleased with the interference and pirate announcements but wonder about the agency's proposed C4 FM class and the prospects for AM/FM subcaps, radio topics that Pai didn't mention. The C4 class would further complicate the interference issues for translators, Exline said. Though Shuldiner said Monday that the C4 proposal circulated on the eighth floor was still being examined, broadcast attorneys said it's widely seen as temporarily shelved. Relaxing the subcap limits could be a problem for smaller station owners, said KIMM(AM) Rapid City, South Dakota, owner Nate Brown. Relaxing the subcaps is widely expected as part of the 2018 quadrennial review, which attorneys expect in the fall, they said.