n Act of 1999.pptVIP

Community Broadcasters Protection Act of 1999 Enacted November 29, 1999 Statutory Qualifications Criteria for Class A Status During 90-day period before 11/29/99, the LPTV station must have: (1) operated at least 18 hours each day (2) broadcast, on average, at least 3 hours per week of programming produced within the market area served by the station (3) complied with FCC’s LPTV rules FCC Class A TV Report Order in MM Docket No. 00-10 Adopted March 28, 2000 Available at /Bureaus/Mass_Media/Orders/2000/fcc00115.txt (.doc or .pfd) Published in Federal Register May 10, 2000 at 65 FR 29985 Who may apply for an initial Class A authorization? Only an LPTV licensee granted a Certification of Eligibility for Class A status Who Will Be Granted a Certificate of Eligibility for Class A Status? LPTV licensees who filed a “Statement of Eligibility for Class A LPTV Status” by January 28, 2000 and Certified “yes” to the 3 statutory qualifications criteria or Could not meet these qualifications due to compelling circumstances Service Area Preservation of “Certified Class A” LPTV Stations From date of receipt of a certification of eligibility that is ultimately granted until final resolution of a Class A application Service area to be preserved is LPTV protected signal contour If LPTV operator holds both license and modified construction permit, contour of permit facilities will be preserved What is “Locally Produced” Programming? Programming produced within the LPTV “market area”, defined as the station’s predicted Grade B signal contour Or within the Grade B contours of a group of commonly controlled stations For example, programming may be produced at the LPTV main studio within the Grade B contour or at a “grandfathered” studio outside the Grade B contour Class A Operating Requirements Per statute, LPTV station must meet full-power TV operating requirements upon filing of Class A application Exceptions are TV broadcast rules that cannot be met