BEFORE THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON, DC 20554
) In the Matter of ) ) Docket No. 12-268 Expanding the Economic and Innovation ) Opportunities of Spectrum Through Incentive ) Auctions ) )
To: The Commission
Comments of LeSEA Broadcasting Corporation
LeSEA Broadcasting Corporation (“LeSEA”), through undersigned counsel, hereby files comments in response to the Commission’s September 28, 2012 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the above-captioned matter.1
Background
LeSEA is the owner and operator of seven (7) full-power television stations in markets across the continental United States and in Hawaii2. LeSEA has been broadcasting as an
independent, religious broadcaster with no network affiliation for over 30 years. Through its
stations, it provides family-oriented, religious and sports video programming.
A. The Commission should fully protect outstanding construction permits issued to effectuate a channel substitution following a rulemaking proceeding.
In the NPRM, the FCC concludes that the Spectrum Act’s February 22, 2012 effective date is the cut off date for protection of broadcast facilities during spectrum repacking by
1 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Expanding the Economic and Innovation Opportunities of Spectrum Through Incentive Auctions; FCC 12-118, rel. October 2, 2012 (hereinafter “NPRM”).
2 LeSEA’s stations are WHME-TV, South Bend, IN; WHMB-TV, Indianapolis, IN; KWHB, Tulsa, Oklahoma; WHNO, New Orleans, Louisiana; KWHE, Honolulu, Hawaii; KWHD, Hilo, Hawaii; and KWHM, Wailuku, Hawaii. LeSEA is also the licensee of three (3) low power stations: KWHS-LP, Colorado Springs, CO; WHNW- LD, Gary, Indiana; and WHVI-LP, Valparaiso, Indiana; and three (3) FM stations in Indiana and Michigan. interpreting that as the date by when stations had to be licensed in order to receive protection.
The Commission then asks whether it should also protect during the repacking process
outstanding construction permits issued to effectuate a channel substitution following a
rulemaking proceeding. NPRM at ¶ 116. The Commission recognized that in these cases, the
station has already gone through the time and expense of a rulemaking process, not to mention
filing and prosecuting a modification application. Id.
Two of LeSEA’s stations, WHMB-TV and WHME-TV, obtained channel substitution
permits and would be detrimentally affected if protection for the facilities in those permits is cut
off as of February 22, 2012. In 2008, LeSEA filed petitions for rulemaking to amend the DTV
Table of Allotments to allow its stations WHME-TV and WHMB-TV to move DTV channels so
as to maximize their coverage areas.3 Both stations were unable to maximize their coverage
areas on their original channels due to requirements that they provide interference protection to
other nearby full power stations. Their channel substitution permits4 were deemed to be in the
public interest because they enabled reception of television service to several hundred thousand
additional viewers where no reception was previously possible. LeSEA spent significant time
and money obtaining the permits.
LeSEA then expended hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete construction of
WHMB-TV’s channel substitution permit and filed a license application on May 3, 2012. The
3 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, In re Amendment of Section 73.622(i), Final DTV Table of Allotments, Television Broadcast Stations (South Bend, Indiana), 23 FCC Rcd 10061 (2008); Report and Order, In re Amendment of Section 73.622(i), Final DTV Table of Allotments, Television Broadcast Stations (South Bend, Indiana), 24 FCC Rcd ? (2009); Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, In re Amendment of Section 73.622(i), Final DTV Table of Allotments, Television Broadcast Stations (Indianapolis, Indiana), 23 FCC Rcd ? (2008); Report and Order, In re Amendment of Section 73.622(i), Final DTV Table of Allotments, Television Broadcast Stations (Indianapolis, Indiana), 24 FCC Rcd ? (2009). The petitions were filed by LeSEA Broadcasting of South Bend, Inc. and LeSEA Broadcasting of Indianapolis, Inc., respectively. Both are subsidiaries of LeSEA and the individual licensees of the stations. 4 For WHMB-TV, BMPCDT-20120424A issued April 27, 2012, modifying BPCDT-20090424ACR, and for WHME-TV, BPCDT-20090716AAZ issued March 8 2011. - 2 - FCC granted the license on June 27, 2012.5 To date, LeSEA has also dedicated significant time
and expense to the planning and build out of WHME-TV’s maximized facilities, and has until
March 8, 2014 to complete construction.
LeSEA emphatically concurs with the FCC’s recognition that not protecting channel
substitution permits would be unfair due to the time and money expended by those broadcast
licensees in expanding local television service to more viewers. The Commission should ensure
that all of the populations targeted for undisrupted service since 2008 are finally given that
service in the manner in which it was originally intended. Neither LeSEA’s stations nor the
public should be penalized merely because a previously authorized process had not been
completed as of an arbitrary date that followed earlier-issued construction permits. Denying
protection in this situation would be contrary to the public interest. LeSEA strongly urges that
its channel substitution permits be fully protected during repacking.
B. The Commission should also protect any outstanding maximization permits during repacking.
The FCC should also protect during the repacking process any other full power television
construction permits issued to maximize digital television service that existed as of February 22,
2012. Like channel substitution permits, maximization permits improved and/or added
television service (without a channel change) for hundreds of thousands of viewers, and were granted pursuant to procedures adopted prior to the Spectrum Act. Maximization permit holders are therefore in the same situation as LeSEA’s two stations that expended time and money to apply for and build these facilities, or that may still have time remaining to construct those facilities. Arbitrarily cutting off protection for those permit holders is not only unfair, but diametrically opposed to the Spectrum Act’s mandate to preserve stations’ coverage areas and populations. Spectrum Act §6403(b).
5 FCC File No. BLCDT-20120503AAT. - 3 - Conclusion
For the above reasons, during any post-auction repacking process, LeSEA respectfully submits that the FCC should fully protect WHMB-TV and WHME-TV’s authorized channel substitution facilities, as well as any maximized television facilities.
Respecfully submitted:
LeSEA Broadcasting Corporation
Joseph C. Chautin, III, Esq. Elise M. Stubbe, Esq. Hardy, Carey, Chautin & Balkin, LLP 1080 West Causeway Approach Mandeville, LA 70471 (985) 629-0777 tel (985) 629-0778 fax
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