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Joe Fedele

DTV Technical Timeline

• Category & Status Descriptions
• ** Those stations that have represented to the Commission that they will complete construction of the DTV facility by November 1, 1998.
• 1 - The first category, all network-affiliated stations in the top ten television markets will have until May 1, 1999, to construct their digital facilities.
• 2 - The second category, all network-affiliated stations in the top 30 television markets not included above will have until November 1, 1999, to construct their digital facilities.
• 3 - The third category, all other commercial stations will have until May 1, 2002, to construct their DTV facilities.
• ++ All non-commercial stations will have until May 1, 2003, to construct their DTV facilities.

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Excerpts from FCC Docket MM Docket No. 87-268 - 5th Report & Order

Adopted: April 3, 1997 Released: April 21, 1997

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G. Application/Construction Period

67. Decision. We will apply a streamlined three-stage application process to the group of initially eligible analog permittees and licensees allotted a paired channel in the DTV Table of Allotments. We will soon issue a Public Notice detailing the procedures to be followed, but will describe them briefly here.

68. Stage One -- Initial Modification License for DTV. Pursuant to the 1996 Act and the eligibility criteria discussed above, we issue, by this paragraph and the attached Appendix E, additional DTV licenses to those initially eligible to receive them.

71. Stage Two -- Certification or Application for Construction Permit. To receive authorization for commencement of construction, an Initial DTV Licensee must file Form 301 and the appropriate fee to obtain a construction permit. Noncommercial stations must file Form 340. The application must be filed before the mid- point in a particular applicant's required construction period has expired. The Bureau will begin acting upon applications as soon as this Report and Order becomes effective.

75. Stage Three -- Application for License to Cover Construction Permit for a DTV Facility. When construction of the DTV facility has been completed, the permittee may commence program tests upon notification to the FCC, provided that an application for a license to cover the construction permit for the DTV facility, on Form 302, is filed within ten days, along with the appropriate fee.

76. Construction Schedule. We have decided to adopt the following construction requirements. Stations affiliated with ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC must build digital facilities in the ten largest television markets by May 1, 1999. Stations affiliated with ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC in the top 30 television markets, not included above, must construct DTV facilities by November 1, 1999. All other commercial stations must construct DTV facilities by May 1, 2002. All noncommercial stations must construct their DTV facilities by May 1, 2003. We note that 24 stations in the top ten markets have voluntarily committed in writing to the Commission to building DTV facilities within 18 months. We applaud these broadcasters' voluntary commitments to give a great number of viewers access to a DTV signal in a very short period. This important step means that a significant portion of the public will be able to receive multiple signals by the holiday shopping season, when nearly 40 percent of all receivers are sold. We ask that those stations that have represented to the Commission that they will have completed construction of the DTV facility by November 1, 1998, file reports at six-month intervals, beginning on November 1, 1997, stating that their plans to meet these deadlines are on schedule or specifying any difficulties encountered in attempting to meet these deadlines.

77. We will grant an extension to the applicable deadline where a broadcaster has been unable to complete construction due to circumstances that are either unforeseeable or beyond the licensee's control if the licensee has taken all reasonable steps to resolve the problem expeditiously. Such circumstances include, but are not limited to, the inability to construct and place in operation a facility necessary for transmitting DTV, such as a tower, because of delays in obtaining zoning or FAA approvals, or similar constraints, or the lack of equipment necessary to transmit a DTV signal. We do not anticipate that the circumstance of "lack of equipment" would include the cost of such equipment. With respect to extensions of the applicable construction deadline, the Commission will take into account problems encountered that are unique to DTV conversion, and will modify its existing policies regarding extensions accordingly. Authority is delegated to the Chief of the Mass Media Bureau to grant an extension of time of up to six months beyond the applicable construction deadline, upon demonstration by the DTV licensee or permittee that the standard discussed above is met, but the Bureau may grant no more than two extension requests upon delegated authority. Subsequent extension requests will be referred to the Commission.

78. Our decision to adopt different requirements for different categories of broadcasters is similar to the market- staggered approach favored by most broadcasters and equipment manufacturers. We agree that the most viewed stations in the largest television markets can be expected to lead the transition to DTV and that these stations are better situated to invest the capital necessary to establish the first DTV stations. We also agree that smaller market stations will find it easier to begin DTV service after learning from the experience gained by the larger market stations. In addition, we agree that our staggered construction schedule will help keep costs lower for smaller market stations, as equipment costs decrease as the market matures. In addition, a tiered approach allows us to ensure that DTV quickly reaches a large percentage of U.S. television households while placing requirements on a relatively small number of stations.

85. Our construction schedule will facilitate our goal of having at least 40 facilities affiliated with the four top networks in the top 10 markets transmitting DTV by May 1, 1999. Within roughly 24 months in each of the top 10 markets, which cover approximately 30 percent of U.S. television households, viewers will have DTV transmissions available from multiple stations. These signals will come from network affiliates, which are generally the stations with the highest ratings in the market. In the top 30 markets, network-affiliated stations must construct digital facilities by November 1, 1999. These markets include 53 percent of U.S. television households. Stations in the second category will benefit from the success of the stations in the first category, as word spreads from the largest markets to those medium-sized markets. The May 1, 1999, requirement applies to only 40 of the country's approximately 1200 commercial television stations, and only 80 additional stations will be affected by the November 1, 1999, deadline. Over one thousand commercial stations will have until May 1, 2002, to plan for and implement their DTV facilities. Noncommercial stations will have until May 1, 2003, to construct.

87. Thus, the roughly two-year construction requirement that applies to these affiliates will both serve the public and be nonburdensome to these broadcasters. By May 1, 1999, markets including fully 30 percent of television households will have access to multiple streams of digital television. The vast majority of commercial broadcasters will have five years in which to construct, and noncommercial stations will have six years in which to construct their digital facilities. We agree with commenters arguing for a shorter construction schedule, especially for broadcasters in the largest television markets. As these commenters point out, broadcasters have been on notice throughout this proceeding of the impending need to convert to DTV. With their greater population coverage and scope of operations, we agree that broadcasters in the largest markets generally will be better able to afford and support a more rapid construction schedule.

88. Moreover, the construction timetable appears to be consistent with the announced plans of the large networks. CBS has received an experimental authorization from the Commission and plans to transmit a DTV signal from the Empire State Building in the spring of 1997. ABC plans to have stations experimenting with digital transmission in early 1998. Fox ordered digital transmitters for its O & O's fully five years ago from Harris Corporation, and plans to have digital transmission between the network and affiliates in place by third quarter 1998. NBC said it would begin broadcasting digital signals 18 months after licenses are awarded. NBC already has designed and is building a $55 million dollar state-of-the-art digital infrastructure at its headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza that will be commissioned this year. On February 2, 1997, WHD-TV, NBC's owned-and-operated model DTV station in Washington, D.C., broadcast "Meet the Press" in high resolution, using the new DTV standard. NBC has also announced that it intends "to move as aggressively and expeditiously as is technically feasible" to enable all of its owned and operated stations around the country to transmit DTV and is "encouraging and helping" its NBC affiliates across the nation in making the transition to DTV.

90. In addition, two experimental digital television stations are already up and running, and were able to begin transmissions just four months after announcing their plans to do so: WHD-TV in Washington, D.C., the model station sponsored by the broadcast and equipment industries, and WRAL, in Raleigh, North Carolina. We have also already granted eight requests for experimental facilities, at least five of which are now operating, and we expect to grant another five experimental licenses soon. These efforts reflect the ability of broadcasters to set up facilities, and they have given broadcasters experience with digital television equipment that should help speed its introduction elsewhere. Finally, equipment manufacturers' recent statements that they plan to sell digital television sets by Christmas 1998 is a further expression of confidence and expectation that DTV will be widely available by that time so as to ensure consumer demand.

91. While we recognize that conversion to digital will impose some burden on broadcasters, we have taken steps to ease broadcasters' introduction of digital service by requiring them at the outset only to emit a DTV signal strong enough to encompass the community of license, and not requiring them to begin transmission to achieve full replication. Many broadcasters will be able to use existing towers for digital transmission and reduce the costs of constructing a DTV facility. Many commenters who argued in favor of a longer construction schedule did so based on their contention that construction of full-replication facilities would require more than six years due to hardware supply constraints, insufficient personnel resources, or lack of adequate new tower sites. However, our construction requirement is satisfied by the emission of a DTV signal strong enough to encompass the community of license, rather than the more difficult requirement that broadcasters replicate their existing service areas. Therefore, licensees need not initially construct full-replication facilities. We believe that the establishment of a construction requirement that is more easily satisfied, as well as our staggered approach, will alleviate the difficulties raised by some commenters.

92. One of the most significant issues in converting to digital broadcasting is the construction of new towers or the upgrade of existing towers. As explained above, this burden will be eased by our limited build-out requirement. In addition, while we recognize that there may not be sufficient equipment available in the earliest days to allow for a full-fledged DTV operation to be implemented by all 1,600 television licensees, we are confident that minimal facilities for the handful of licensees in the top ten markets can be assembled in a timely fashion. These facilities need only meet our requirements of serving the community of license, which can be accomplished by the use of existing equipment or prototypes certain to be introduced soon.

93. As for noncommercial stations, we allow them until May 1, 2003, to construct DTV facilities. There is strong support in the record for giving noncommercial stations greater leeway in the construction of DTV facilities. As discussed more fully below, noncommercial stations need and warrant special relief to assist them in the transition. And, as noted above, there are some noncommercial stations at the forefront of DTV. However, we are convinced by the record that noncommercial stations, as a group, may have more difficulty with the transition to DTV than commercial stations. Therefore, we permit noncommercial stations a longer period of time to construct DTV facilities than commercial DTV stations.

H. Recovery Date

99. While the Commission has previously considered a 15-year end-point for NTSC service, we now believe that broadcasters should be able to convert to digital broadcast much more rapidly. Specifically, we believe that a target of 2006 for the cessation of analog service is reasonable. As the Fourth Further Notice/Third Inquiry explained, as digital technology has developed, we have had reason to expect that DTV may be adopted more quickly than originally anticipated. Competitors in the video programming market, such as DBS, cable, and wireless cable, have aggressively pursued the potential of digital technology. This competitive pressure has lent urgency to the need for broadcasters to convert rapidly. Furthermore, technological advances have worked to lower the introductory costs to broadcasters; for example, new technology may allow many broadcasters to use existing towers for digital transmission, thus easing the expense of converting to digital equipment. And, due to the introduction of other services, broadcasters who need new towers, will be able to lease space on their new towers to mobile service providers, further lowering the costs of converting. On the viewers' side, technological advances in converter-box technology will lower the consumer costs of the introduction of digital technology. The dramatic drop anticipated in converter-box prices will permit consumers inexpensively to continue to use existing equipment, thus easing the introduction of digital services. Based on our current information, we believe 2006 is a reasonable target.

100. As we discuss below, we will conduct reviews of the progress of DTV every two years. This will allow us to monitor the progress of DTV and to make adjustments to the 2006 target, if necessary. In evaluating the appropriateness of the 2006 target date, key factors for consideration will include viewer acceptance of digital television, penetration of digital receivers and digital-to-analog converter set-top boxes, the availability of digital- to-analog conversion by retransmission media such as cable, DBS, and wireless cable, and generally the number of television households that continue to rely solely on over-the-air analog broadcasting. We emphasize, as we have throughout this proceeding, that at the designated date, broadcasters who do not receive extensions must return one of their two channels.

I. Noncommercial Station

104. Decision. At the outset, we note our commitment to noncommercial educational television service and our recognition of the high quality programming service noncommercial stations have provided to American viewers over the years. We also acknowledge the financial difficulties faced by noncommercial stations and reiterate our view that noncommercial stations will need and warrant special relief measures to assist them in the transition to DTV. Accordingly, we intend to grant such special treatment to noncommercial broadcasters to afford them every opportunity to participate in the transition to digital television, and we will deal with them in a lenient manner. As discussed above, we will not require a financial showing of any broadcaster seeking a construction permit to build a DTV station, and, accordingly, no special treatment will be required of noncommercial broadcasters in this regard. With respect to the construction deadline, discussed above, we will apply a six-year construction period timetable to noncommercial stations, the longest permitted to any category of DTV applicant. We believe, however, that it would be premature to attempt to resolve the issue of what additional special treatment, if any, should be afforded to noncommercial broadcasters at this early date, and we will consider this issue in our periodic reviews. At the same time, however, we wish to note that public broadcasting service was the first to establish a digital satellite transmission system and that public broadcasting licensees are in the forefront of experimenting with digital television. Public broadcasters have taken an innovative approach in experimenting with the capabilities of digital technology.

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