KOZK(TV) – Request for Extension of Time to Construct LMS File No. 0000034615
The Board of Governors of Missouri State University, licensee of noncommercial educational TV station KOZK(TV), Springfield, Missouri (“KOZK”), hereby requests an extension of time to complete construction of its post-auction channel facilities. See 47 C.F.R. Section 73.3700(b)(5)(iv).1 KOZK requests an additional 180 days to construct, i.e., until May 29, 2019.
As the FCC is aware, KOZK suffered a total collapse of its broadcast tower on April 19, 2018, while a crew was on the tower performing necessary repack work in preparation for the station’s transition. KOZK’s existing equipment for its pre-transition channel was rendered inoperable because of the tower collapse. In the months since the tower collapse, the station has worked diligently to restore service to its viewers. KOZK was off-air for a period and operated with extremely limited coverage with a very low power facility for many months until it was finally able to return to service on its pre-transition channel under STA using a temporarily leased tower location.
The tower collapse and related issues required KOZK to focus immediately on returning sole public TV service to its rural communities as well as to expedite a brand-new transition plan for its repack – with different equipment on someone else’s tower – to meet its Phase 1 transition date. KOZK investigated many tower and tower site options, all of which required time, effort, tower studies, structural studies, equipment studies, and engineering studies, to develop appropriate plans to return its service to the public and to make arrangements for operation on its post-transition channel. Once the plans were developed, KOZK had to work with its chosen tower landlord, Station KYTV, another local broadcaster being repacked (and also assigned to Phase 1), to coordinate work on the tower and related equipment installation without jeopardizing the tower’s owner own Phase 1 transition plans.
In early July, once KOZK’s plans and tower lease arrangements with KYTV were sufficiently advanced, KOZK determined that the best way to meet its Phase 1 deadline and to minimize consumer confusion regarding its rescan was to coordinate its transition date with KYTV’s transition date, which KYTV had already set for September 17, 2018. To accommodate this date, KOZK will construct interim facilities on its post-auction channel at the KYTV tower site. It will then operate with interim facilities on its post- auction channel at the KYTV tower site while it determines whether it would be wiser for the public TV station to rebuild the collapsed tower using FCC reimbursement funds or to build out and operate its permanent facilities from the KYTV site, assuming the necessary tower work at the KYTV site is completed.
Although KOZK will be ceasing operations on its pre-repack channel (and commencing operations on its new channel) well in advance of the end of its assigned phase, given its unique situation with a collapsed tower requiring a new, expedited and evolving transition plan to meet its Phase 1 deadline KOZK needs more time to finalize its plans and to construct its permanent post-repack facilities. The series of events KOZK encountered was both unforeseeable and beyond the station’s control and has presented unique technical (and logistical) challenges to construction.
1 KOZK acknowledges that this request has not been filed 90 days before its current construction deadline. The station’s plans have been evolving rapidly and the focus has been on returning KOZK to service and transitioning KOZK’s sister station (KOZJ in Joplin) on September 1, 2018. Accordingly, to the extent necessary, KOZK requests waiver of the 90-day requirement found in 47 C.F.R. Section 3700(b)(5)(iv) for filing this extension request. Thus, KOZK respectfully requests that its construction permit for post-repack facilities (LMS File No. 0000034615) be extended for 180 days, or until May 29, 2019. KOZK will seek temporary authority as required for interim operations on its post-repack channel.
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