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Arizona TV Renewals

Over 2000 TV and LPTV broadcast licenses in AZ, ID, NV, NM, UT and WY expire on 10/1/2006 and the FCC requires that license renewal applications be submitted 4 months prior to expiration, or by 6/1/2006. The majority of applications came during the last week to file, and most of those in the last 2 days. Two weeks after the filing deadline, it appears that the FCC has formally accepted most, if not all of the findings.

270 TV and LPTV stations are licensed to AZ or are operating under a CP with an application for a license or under STA, and another 87 stations are licensed outside of AZ but their signals cover AZ communities, either on a primary or incidental basis. Of these, 261 AZ stations and 59 non-AZ stations have licenses expiring on 10/1/2006 and must renew their licenses. As of 6/17/2006, licensees have applied for renewals for 217 of the 320 stations. Major exceptions are as follows:

Mohave County Board of Supervisors (44 stations)

Stations are located in the following communities: Big Sandy Valley (ch. 27), Bullhead City (chs. 2, 4, 9, 11, 12, 16), Chloride (chs. 30, 32, 42, 49), Colorado City (ch. 27), Dolan Springs (chs. 35, 41, 43), Golden Valley (chs. 11, 21, 46), Kingman (chs. 23, 31, 34, 41, 44, 48, 49, 50), Lake Havasu City (chs. 21, 29, 31, 38, 39, 43, 46), Littlefield (ch. 31), Meadview (chs. 23, 25, 36, 38, 47), Moccasin (ch. 35), Peach Springs (chs. 26, 42) and Topock (chs. 21, 42).

Renewal applications have not been received for any of their stations. While it could be that the FCC just hasn't processed the applications yet, it could also be (and IMO more likely) that whoever is in charge of this at Mohave County forgot to submit renewal applications. A couple of years ago, they moved at least half of their stations out of the 700MHz band (chs 52-69) but neglected to submit licenses to cover until several months after the CPs had expired. This was also the licensee who applied for Class A status for all of their stations, even though they're all licensed as translator stations (and thus unable to meet the local origin standard of a Class A station).

White Mountain Apache Tribe (21 stations)

The White Mountain Apache Tribe operates a network of translator stations that once simulcasted the 5 Phoenix VHF stations each from 5 broadcast sites: Cibecue (chs. 2, 7, 9, 11, 13), Fort Apache (chs. 2, 7, 9, 11, 13), Carrizo (chs. 2, 9, 11, 13), Cedar Creek (chs. 2, 7, 9, 11, 13) and Whiteriver (chs. 9, 13). 3 additional Whiteriver stations operated via STA and never had CPs, and 1 Carrizo station canceled its license, even though it continues to broadcast. Will the remaining 21 licenses be renewed? All stations are very low power (<10 watts VHF; ~200 watts UHF) and have very limited coverage, and moreover, satellite makes translators of network TV pretty much obsolete.

Other missing renewals

Stations on air and maintained - likely to be renewed

Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation & Drainage District - Wellton chs. 61, 63, 65, 67, 69. District applied for renewal of translator in Martinez Lake, but not these.
Porter Mtn Antenna TV Assn - Show Low (Snowflake) ch. 7. Recent upgrades by KSAZ.
Richard Tatham - Bullhead City ch 25 and Lake Havasu City ch 36.
Central Arizona Broadcasting - Casa Grande ch 28.
LIN of Colorado - Chinle ch. 13.
Gospel Light Broadcasting - Duncan ch. 17.
WTVA Inc. - Flagstaff KFTL ch. 4
Lake Havasu Christian Television - Lake Havasu City chs. 25, 27.
Nutrioso TV Association - Nutrioso ch. 7.
Broadcast Systems Inc. - Phoenix chs. 25, 42.
KUTV Holdings - Hildale (UT)/Colorado City ch. 7 and Santa Clara (UT) ch. 49 not included in KUTV application.
Washington County (UT) - Hildale (UT)/Colorado City ch. 13.
Broadcast West - St. George (UT) ch. 16.

Possible non-renewals

Bouse Booster Club - Bouse chs. 4, 7, 11. Ch. 7 off air - remaining stations not maintained?
Greer Community TV - Greer chs. 6 and 7. On air - not maintained?
Porter Mtn. Antenna TV Assn. - Show Low (Snowflake) chs. 5, 11. Silent stations.
Rockpoint School - Rock Point ch. 56. Silent station.
The Navajo Nation - Window Rock ch. 44, Tsaile ch. 40, Chinle ch. 51. Silent stations.
St. Johns TV Committee - St. Johns chs. 6, 7, 11. Silent stations - abandoned?
Christian Broadcasting Communications - Shiprock (NM)/Chinle ch. 32. Silent station.
La Luz Broadcasting - Tucson ch. 65. Silent station - abandoned?
KSAZ License - Williams ch. 43. Silent station. Only KSAZ-owned translator station not included in KSAZ renewal application.
 
What happens to all of the translators when digital completely takes over?
 
Short answer:

I don't know for sure. I'm merely an curious observer and get my information mainly from online FCC publications.

-------------------

Long answer:

Most of the stations that have been renewed are merely being used as translators, whether their license specifies TV Translator or Low-Power TV. Operators of LPTV/translator stations have already begun filing for low-power DTV conversions - most via flash cut, some (mostly those in the 700 MHz spectrum) via digital companion channel. New licenses won't expire until 10/1/2014.

Strictly opinion: Translators should work in the digital world pretty much as they do now, with the exception that instead of translating one feed, they should be able to retransmit all of the digital subchannels, increasing the programming available OTA to their service area. If the originating station is not transmitting all of its bandwidth, there may be bandwidth available for the LPTV station to offer OTA digital data services. That was the goal of all those stations that Dean Mosely (US Interactive) and Charles Townsend III (Aloha Partners) had been acquiring. (see note below)* I'm sure that LPTV licensees will be able to take advantage of such services if available, but I'm not so sure if TV translator licensees will, given the content origin restrictions currently placed on translator licenses.

Purely speculation: One or two companies will set up digital data services in each community using spare bandwidth on existing LPTV channels. In larger communities, such as Flagstaff and Yuma, there may be more than two. America One could become a popular TV service in the rural areas, providing an SDTV signal on the primary channel, and leaving the rest of the bandwidth for the station's owner to offer digital data services. America One is already being carried by KM Communications in Flagstaff and Holbrook, by Tri-State Television in Kingman/Bullhead City and Lake Havasu City, and by Central Arizona Broadcasting in Casa Grande.

-------------------

* - US Interactive used to own KPHE-LP when it was broadcasting on ch 19 from Usery Mtn and used it as part of the FCC's LPTV Pilot Project Digital Data Services Act (DDSA) in 2001. Aloha Partners has secured the rights to the bandwidth currently used by chs 54 & 59 in both Phoenix and Tucson for use after the 700 MHz band is abandoned by TV after DTV conversion.
 
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