End of Incentive Auction Repack Fast Approaching

(Image credit: Future Media)

The FCC is advising LPTVs and translator stations still operating on the guard band between TV stations and wireless operators and in the so-called duplex gap between wireless uplink and downlink spectrum that they will have to shut down by July 13, 2020.

That affects stations on channels 38, 44, 45 and 46 in the so-called duplex gap, and is the case because the long-awaited closing of the 10th and last phase of the post incentive auction transition closes July 3. 

Related: FCC Provides COVID-19-Related Repack Relief

The FCC's Media Bureau said it will not even consider extending that July 13 shut-off date. 

Stations on those four channels that have not filed for a new channel in 2-36 can still do so, though they won't be able to get compensation from the FCC's $150 million LPTV/translator relocation fund.

The FCC provided some COVID-19-related relief for stations in phase nine, but said it remained on track for a July 3 end to the repack.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.