FCC Reminding LPTV Stations to Abandon the 600 MHz Band

FCC New 2020 Logo

The FCC yesterday issued a Public Notice reminder for low power television stations to cease operations on the “duplex gap” spectrum by the end of July 13, 2020. Some LPTVs were allowed to continue operating temporarily on TV channels 38 where a guard band exists between telecom channel A and old TV channel 37, or on TV channels 44, 45, or 46, where there’s a duplex gap between telecom uplink and downlink channels.

In the San Diego region, Entravision’s KTCD-LP on Mt. Woodson operated for a short time on channel 46 with analog service. They’ve since signed off.

In Los Angeles, KTAV-LD operates on channel 46 and will have to shut down or share a channel since they have no pending application for a new home channel. [Edit 6/23/2020 – The FCC granted KTAV-LD a Construction Permit for a displacement allocation on channel 21 from a Beverly Hills tower site. Channel 21 is adjacent to land mobile T-band channel 20, and had been off-limits to DTV in Los Angeles. ]