[BC] ANOTHER TV Translator Question

[RSTYPE at aol.com]

Yes, it's easy to change a TV translator to an LPTV station.  All it takes is 
an informal letter to the FCC.  Converting an LPTV to a Class A TV isn't 
quite so easy, however.  It was necessary to meet the local programming criteria 
prior to the adoption of the Community Broadcasters Protection Act in 1999 and 
file a certification of eligibility for Class A status by no later than 
January of 2000.  Any station which didn't do so won't be eligible to convert to 
Class A status unless the FCC opens another opportunity to do so (which isn't 
likely to happen any time soon).  Both LPTV and Class A TV stations (whether or 
not they are affiliated with a network) only have must carry rights in 
extremely limited circumstances.  They must be licensed to a community located in a 
county which has no licensed high power TV stations and outside the top 160 
metropolitan statistical areas.  They must also meet many of the legal 
requirements applicable to full power TV stations, be located within 35 miles of the 
cable system's headend, and provide a good quality signal to the headend (without 
resorting to amplifiers or alternative signal delivery, which high power TV 
stations are permitted to do).
 
Roy Stype
Carl E. Smith Consulting Engineers
 
In a message dated 2/8/2009 1:56:51 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
dpuopolo at usa.net writes:

They aren't worth much these days. One thing you can do with translators
though is they can become LPTVs by basically just filing with the FCC. Once
they are a LPTV, if you run more then a certain amount of locally produced
programming they can then be re-licensed as community TV stations-which have
cable carriage rights.

Some networks will also affiliate with LPTVs. When this happens, then the
local cable system HAS to carry you or has to drop that network.

-D