The FCC yesterday issued a Public Notice announcing a window for mutually exclusive applicants filed in the second translator window to attempt to resolve the interference conflicts that the FCC found to exist between certain applications. The conflicting applications are listed on the Excel spreadsheet found here. These are translator applications filed in the second translator window in late 2017 which was opened primarily so that Class A and B AM stations could seek authority to rebroadcast their signals on new FM translators that would be tied to those AM stations. While mutually exclusive parties can start discussions now about resolving the conflicts between their applications, engineering amendments resolving the problems or other settlement agreements can only be filed in a window open between May 24 and June 14.
As we wrote here, applications filed in this second translator window that are not mutually exclusive have already been told to file their “long-form” applications detailing their technical proposals by May 9. The FCC has also recently scheduled auctions for mutually exclusive applicants in the first 2017 translator window who were not able to resolve their mutual exclusivity in the settlement period opened in connection with those applications (see our article here). An auction of mutually exclusive applications left over from the 2003 translator window has also been scheduled (see our post here). So, all in all, the FCC is moving rapidly to authorize many new FM translators in the coming months.
