Attention incumbent C-Band Earth station operators, the FCC's International Bureau said that any Earth stations that don't appear operational or haven't gotten back to the FCC or satellite operators on their operational status if it is in question will be terminated and lose their incumbent status as of April 19.
There are many familiar names on those lists (See below)
That status is important as the FCC relocates incumbent Earth stations following the C-Band spectrum auction.
RSM, the C-band relocation coordinator, is required by the FCC to make sure that all incumbent earth stations are accounted for in the transition to the upper 200 MHz of the band, where Earth stations are being relocated. Those include cable and broadcast earth stations that receive network programming or programming from the field.
While the FCC said the vast majority of Earth station operators are accounted for, a "limited number" remain unclaimed, either because satellite operators or Earth station operators have confirmed them to be no longer operational or because their operators have been unresponsive to "multiple and varied" efforts--e-mail, certified mail, phone--to contact them.
The FCC is now presuming that both categories have ceased operations, a status, or lack of it, that means they "will not be entitled to protection from interference from the network deployments of new wireless licenses or be eligible for reimbursement of any transition costs, including the cost of any filters, that those earth stations may decide to incur."
The FCC said they will need a notification by April 19 if any of those are operational and intend to participate in the transition.
