FCC to vote on LPFM Report and Order in less than an hour

Fri, 11/30/2012 - 09:27

The Federal Communications Commission is about to vote on the Sixth Report and Order (R&O) in MM Docket 99-25 and MB Docket 07-172. 

The majjor items that will be decided in this R&O will include:

  • Second adjacent channel waivers,
  • Third adjacent channel interference mitigation,
  • The proposed 250-watt service (and hopefully addressing REC's 50-watt proposal),
  • Ownership issues (mainly around Native Nations).
  • Local programming requirements.
  • The selection process for mutually exclusive (competing) applications.

In addition, this R&O will address the Petition for Reconsideration that was filed byy Educational Media Foundation (EMF) and several regional translator applicants.  EMF is asking the FCC to reconsider the nationwide cap of 50 pending applications while the regional applicants have concerns over the "one-to-a-market" rule.  REC was the primary LPFM advocate who filed a response to the Petitions for Reconsideration supporting the FCC sustaining the 50-cap rule but offering some expansion of the "one-to-a-market" rule in suburban and rural areas within Arbitron counties.

This live event will start this morning at 10AM Eastern Time at http://fcc.gov/live

REC, Prometheus Radio Project and others will be live-tweeting the event.  Follow the hashtag #lpfm .