The non-commercial translator filing window that had been scheduled to run from August 11 until August 25 has now been delayed until November.
The window will now open at 12am Eastern on Wednesday, November 4 and run until 6pm Eastern on Tuesday, November 17. A freeze on LPFM, translator and booster modification applications will now commence at 11:59pm on Friday, October 2 and continue until the close of the filing window.
The change comes after several groups including College Broadcasters Inc., the Pala Band of Mission Indians, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, Native Public Media and the National Congress of American Indians, and Community Media Assistance Project requested the delay as the August date would inhibit the ability of student media outlets, Tribal communities, and smaller, rural community based broadcasters to participate in the window.
The FCC noted, “We agree that it would serve the public interest to reschedule the filing window by several months to afford all interested parties sufficient time to prepare applications for new construction permits for this important service and participate in this first ever filing window for NCE reserved band FM translator station construction permit applications.”
Only licensees of the stations which will be rebroadcast on the translators can apply for new translators and a limit of ten applications nationally can be filed with exceptions of a minimum of four for tribal licenses and two for LPFM licensees.
