Draft Order Without AM-Only Translator Window Unlikely To Change
The draft AM revitalization order doesn’t currently include an AM-only FM translator application window and that isn't expected to change, broadcast attorneys and FCC officials told us Monday. Though an FCC official told us two commissioners -- Mike O’Rielly and Ajit Pai -- have now requested to change the draft order to include a translator window, it takes a majority to force such a change. In the wake of Commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s statement Thursday (see 1510020047">1510020047) announcing her support for the current draft order’s proposal for a waiver that will allow broadcasters to relocate translators from up to 250 miles away and prioritizes smaller stations, Chairman Tom Wheeler is seen as having locked down the Democratic support, several broadcast industry officials told us.
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Industry and other lobbying against the initial draft continues. The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) is lobbying FCC officials on the matter this week, said General Counsel David Honig. MMTC is working to get commissioners to go on the record supporting a future translator application window in their voting statements on the revitalization order, he said.
Until her statement Thursday, Clyburn had been seen as keeping the prospect for an AM-only FM translator window alive, broadcast attorneys said. “The only reason the window was viable this long was that she was paying attention to it,” said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Frank Montero. Without Clyburn taking an interest, Wheeler’s draft order would have been approved over Republican objections without any compromise efforts, he said.
The compromise, which will allow Class C and D stations to have the chance to relocate translators before other stations, is seen as good for AM broadcasters but less effective than it would have been if combined with an AM-only translator window, according to industry attorneys. In her statement announcing support for the current draft order, Clyburn said she would support a translator window opened after the incentive auction. The compromise is a “good-faith effort” to help the weakest AM broadcasters, but the window would have been better, Montero said. MMTC wants to examine the data behind the proposal to see if it will be a significant help to minority-owned broadcasters, though the concept seems sound, Honig said.
There is no reason the commission couldn’t announce now that there would be a translator window after the auction, Montero said. Media Bureau Audio Division Chief Peter Doyle had said the existence of the window would ruin the translator waiver option, because broadcasters wouldn’t relocate a translator if they knew they could get their own later. “So what?” Montero said. “Even if that happens, who have you harmed? What are you losing?” Montero suggested Wheeler’s rejection of the AM-only window could mean Wheeler believes AM is dying, and the spectrum involved should be reserved for a later use. Wheeler has said he supports the other aspects of the proposed AM revitalization program. By getting commissioners to say they would support the translator window down the road, Honig hopes to send the message that there is hope for AM despite the translator window’s defeat. If three, or all five, commissioners announce support for the later window, broadcasters are “much better off,” Honig said. “Investors will have a strong signal that conditions might improve.”
A Pai spokesman suggested Friday that Wheeler had pressured the Democratic commissioners not to vote with Pai. Montero and other attorneys told us they didn’t understand why Wheeler was against the otherwise broadly supported AM-only translator window. Wheeler has said he believes there are already too many translators, and “the government shouldn’t favor one class of licensees with an exclusive spectrum opportunity unavailable to others just because the company owns a license in the AM band.”
The translator window would grant free spectrum to a narrow class of people, and since there are already enough translators, AM radio’s situation doesn’t merit such a giveaway, said an FCC official who supports the draft order. The high number of translators combined with the waiver should make it easy for needy AM stations to secure a translator fast, another FCC official who supports the order told us. There are nearly 1,500 approved construction permits for FM translators, which can be relocated under the proposed waiver just like existing translators but with minimal disruption, the official said.