1/ Telemundo Controls the Licensees of the Following Full-Power Television
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In the Matter of ) ) Advanced Television Systems ) and Their Impact Upon the ) MM Docket No. 87-268 Existing Television Broadcast ) Service ) ) Sixth Further Notice of Proposed ) Rule Making ) TO: The Commission COMMENTS OF TELEMUNDO GROUP, INC. Telemundo Group, Inc. (“Telemundo”), by its attorneys, respectfully submits its Comments on the Commission’s Sixth Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making, FCC 96-317 (released Aug. 14, 1996) (“Sixth NPRM”) in the above- captioned proceeding. I. Introduction Telemundo is one of the leading sources of Spanish-language news, information and entertainment for the nation’s Hispanic population. It controls the licensees of seven full-power UHF television stations, one full-power VHF television station, and 14 low power television stations (“LPTVs”) and TV translators. 1/ It 1/ Telemundo controls the licensees of the following full-power television stations: KVEA(TV), Channel 52, Corona, California KSTS(TV), Channel 48, San Jose, California WSNS(TV), Channel 44, Chicago, Illinois WSCV(TV), Channel 51, Fort Lauderdale, Florida KVDA(TV), Channel 60, San Antonio, Texas \\\DC - 57377/1 - 0369393.03 also is the parent of Telemundo Network, Inc., which produces 24 hours of Spanish- language programming per day for distribution to its own stations and to 42 full- power television or LPTV affiliates in 26 markets across the country. By participating in this proceeding, Telemundo seeks to ensure that the table of digital television (“DTV”) allotments and assignments adopted by this Commission does not diminish its ability to reach the Spanish-speaking audiences which depend upon its programming or minimize the diversity of programming available to the public. Telemundo is a signatory to the Comments that are being filed today by the “Broadcasters,” a wide cross-section of the country’s television stations and networks, and generally supports the basic principles set forth in the Broadcasters’ Comments. Telemundo further supports the Comments of the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers (“AFCCE”) as a means of resolving some of the problems encountered by Telemundo’s stations and identified in these Comments. However, Telemundo submits these Comments separately in order to highlight the following additional limited concerns which merit the Commission’s attention: (1) the FCC’s proposed DTV allotment for KVEA(TV), Corona, California, would destroy Telemundo’s ability to have competitive facilities in the Los Angeles DTV marketplace, since KVEA would be forced to reduce power KTMD(TV), Channel 48, Galveston, Texas WNJU(TV), Channel 47, Linden, New Jersey WKAQ-TV, Channel 2, San Juan, Puerto Rico 2 \\\DC - 57377/1 - 0369393.03 substantially in order to eliminate interference to public safety communications services; (2) the FCC’s proposed DTV table for Puerto Rico would fail to extend DTV service to many island residents; (3) the Commission’s proposals do not provide adequate protection for LPTV and TV Translator services; and (4) the Commission should incorporate engineering measures that will improve service to urban populations. II. The FCC’s DTV Channel Assignment For KVEA Would Conflict With Los Angeles Public Safety Radio Operations And San Diego NTSC Operations, Contrary To The Public Interest. The Commission’s proposed DTV table includes an allocation for Telemundo’s station in the Los Angeles market which would be extremely detrimental to the public interest. First, this DTV channel assignment would likely result in interference to adjacent-channel public safety radio services. Telemundo’s delivery of digital Spanish-language programming to Los Angeles-area audiences could be delayed indefinitely while it struggles to resolve these interference problems. Second, KVEA’s DTV and NTSC channel assignments may receive interference from co-channel NTSC and DTV channels in San Diego, due to the unusual geography and propagation characteristics of Southern California. Thus, the Commission’s proposed DTV assignment for KVEA would be contrary to the public interest. The Broadcasters have proposed an alternative DTV table of allotments which would resolve KVEA’s problems. However, in the event that the Commission rejects the Broadcasters’ DTV table and adopts the DTV table proposed 3 \\\DC - 57377/1 - 0369393.03 in the Sixth NPRM, Telemundo urges the Commission to adjust the allotments in the Los Angeles market so that KVEA is not adjacent to Channels 14 and 16 or assigned to the same channel as a San Diego NTSC station. 4 \\\DC - 57377/1 - 0369393.03 A. KVEA’s DTV Allotment Would Impede Its Ability To Compete In The DTV Marketplace Because Of The Likely Interference With Public Safety Radio Operations On Channels 14 and 16. The Commission’s DTV table assigns Telemundo Station KVEA, Channel 52, Corona, California, to DTV Channel 15. 2/ This channel is adjacent to the channel reserved for the public safety radio operations of Los Angeles-area police and fire departments (Channel 16) and the channel reserved for a variety of domestic public, public safety, industrial and land transportation radio services (Channel 14). 3/ The adjacency of these channels would most likely result in interference to the land mobile operations assigned to Channels 14 and 16. Such interference would severely compromise KVEA’s ability to provide DTV service to the Los Angeles area. 1. The adjacency of KVEA’s DTV channel to two land mobile channels would result in interference. First, KVEA would be short-spaced to Channels 14 and 16. In order to avoid interference, the Commission proposes co-channel and adjacent channel spacings of 250 km (155 miles) and 176 km (110 miles), respectively, between DTV stations and the city-center of land mobile operations. 4/ The Commission tentatively concluded that this spacing approach is “appropriate for regulating 2/ Sixth NPRM at Appendix B, B-7. 3/ See 47 C.F.R. § 2.106, note NG66; Sixth NPRM at n.77. 4/ Sixth NPRM at ¶ 76. 5 \\\DC - 57377/1 - 0369393.03 interference between DTV stations and existing land mobile operations.” 5/ However, KVEA’s Channel 15 allotment is one of nine cases where DTV allotments would be less than 110 miles from adjacent channel land mobile operations. 6/ In fact, there could be no spacing between KVEA and the land mobile operations, since public safety radio services could be used anywhere in the market, including at the site of KVEA’s transmitter. Thus, under the Commission’s own proposed rules, the spacing to KVEA’s DTV channel would not be sufficient to regulate interference. Second, the experience of NTSC television stations operating on channels adjacent to land mobile operations demonstrates that it is almost impossible to prevent adjacent television stations from interfering with land mobile receivers. The adjacency typically results in signal overloading of nearby land mobile receivers on adjacent channels, even where the television station reduces out-of-channel emissions significantly below the level required by Commission rules. For example, the government of Fairfax County, Virginia, and the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia have complained for over five years that operation of WTMW(TV), Channel 14, Arlington, Virginia, would create interference to their public safety radio services. 7/ In 1993, the 5/ Id. 6/ Id. at n.96. 7/ See id. at 515, n. 39 (referencing clash between parties existing as of August 1991). The potential interference to the Fairfax County, Virginia communications services was resolved in 1993, see Construction Permit File No. BLCT-930406KF 6 \\\DC - 57377/1 - 0369393.03 Commission granted WTMW program test authority to operate at no higher than 50% of the station’s authorized power in order to prevent this interference. 8/ Three years later, WTMW still has not received authority to operate at full power. Station KTVJ(TV), Channel 14, Boulder, Colorado, has been the subject of complaints concerning interference to adjacent-channel land mobile operations for an even longer period of time. In 1991, the Commission noted that construction of KTVJ(TV) had been delayed “for several years,” because of a high concentration of land mobile stations near its authorized transmitter site. 9/ Five years later, KTVJ is operating at less than 10% of authorized power pending resolution of an intermodulation problem with the City of Denver. 10/ Even this power level is unsatisfactory to a coalition of land mobile operators who have submitted two requests for suspension or revocation of KTVJ’s program test (August 3, 1993), but WTMW’s dispute with the District of Columbia continues. 8/ See Station WTMW(TV), Arlington, Virginia, Construction Permit File No. BLCT-930406KF (August 3, 1993); Station WTMW(TV), Arlington, Virginia, Construction Permit File No. BLCT-930406KF (October 15, 1993). 9/ Resolution of Interference Between UHF Channels 14 and 69 and Adjacent- Channel Land Mobile Operations, 6 FCC Rcd. 5148, 5153 n.39 (1991). 10/ See Letter of John R. Feore, Jr., of Dow, Lohnes & Albertson to Clay Pendarvis, Chief, Television Branch, Mass Media Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, regarding KTVJ(TV), Boulder, Colorado (March 20, 1996); Letter of Thomas J. Hutton of Dow, Lohnes & Albertson to Clay Pendarvis, Chief, Television Branch, Mass Media Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, regarding KTVJ(TV), Boulder, Colorado (June 26, 1996). 7 \\\DC - 57377/1 - 0369393.03 authority. 11/ In 1985, the Commission refused to locate public safety communications services on Channel 19 in Los Angeles because