Media Bureau Gets 243 Translator Relocation Applications on First Day of Window
The FCC Media Bureau received more than 243 applications July 29 from AM stations looking to relocate FM translators within a 250-mile radius, a Media Bureau spokeswoman told us. That's down from the 412 applications received on the first day of the window for smaller Class C and D stations in January, though the applications for Class A and B stations represent bigger stations with larger coverage areas and heftier budgets, said Patrick Communications Media Broker Gregory Guy. “It's got less quantity and more quality, in the sense these are bigger stations.” The windows come amid FCC efforts to revitalize AM.
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As with the earlier translator filing window, it's expected the bulk of applications were filed on the first day the window was open, since translators will be apportioned by the commission on a first-come, first-served basis. Part of the reason for the smaller number of applications in this window is the previous window, said Womble Carlyle radio attorney John Garziglia. “Most of the really good translator frequencies have been taken by C and D stations,” Garziglia said. “I believe that was the FCC's intent,” in setting aside an exclusive application window for C and D stations, Garziglia said.
With spots limited, stations are expected to try to fit translators in where they can, and that's most difficult in the signal-crowded Northeast, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast lawyer David Oxenford. Prices for the relocated translators are correspondingly higher in more crowded areas, Garziglia said. Translators are going in the $70,000-$90,000 range in the Northeast, whereas prices are closer to $50,000 in the Midwest, he said. Though a smaller number of stations are trying to get the translators than in the previous window, translator prices remain inflated because of the deeper pockets among the competing stations, Guy said.
High translator prices in the relocation windows were part of the reason some broadcast attorneys opposed the windows when they were proposed by the bureau during the lead-up to the AM revitalization order. Despite the strong interest in the windows, demand still is expected for the 2017 window for new translator applications that was also created by that order, industry officials told us. The translators in the 2017 window will be free, which creates an opportunity for cash-strapped broadcasters located in areas that are likely to have space for translators still open by then, Oxenford said. Guy said he expects “exuberant” demand for translators during the filing 2017 window, just localized to areas with less-crowded spectrum.