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S.C.R. 4

             1     

COMMUNICATIONS SPECTRUM TRANSLATOR SYSTEM

             2     
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

             3     
2011 GENERAL SESSION

             4     
STATE OF UTAH

             5     
Chief Sponsor: Ralph Okerlund

             6     
House Sponsor: Kay L. McIff

             7     
             8      LONG TITLE
             9      General Description:
             10          This concurrent resolution of the Legislature and the Governor urges the federal
             11      government to protect the communications spectrum that allows Utah's translator
             12      system to provide free television access across the state.
             13      Highlighted Provisions:
             14          This resolution:
             15          .    strongly urges the President of the United States and the Federal Communications
             16      Commission (FCC) to not remove channels 32 to 51 from the current existing FCC
             17      channels 14 to 51 Television Broadcast Authorization because of the significant
             18      negative impact that action would have on off-air television reception in urban areas
             19      and to off-air viewers nationwide, including rural viewers, who would be forced to
             20      either pay for subscription television or go without television service.
             21      Special Clauses:
             22          None
             23     
             24      Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:
             25          WHEREAS, the President of the United States has directed the Chairman of the Federal
             26      Communications Commission (FCC) to consider removing channels 32 to 51 from the current
             27      FCC channels 14 to 51 Television Broadcast Authorization;


             28          WHEREAS, this action would devastate off-air television reception to urban areas and
             29      also cause disruption to off-air viewers nationwide;
             30          WHEREAS, according to FCC records as listed in FCC MD Docket No. 03-185 (FCC
             31      10-172), page 26, dated September 17, 2010, 4,518 television translator stations, 567 Class A
             32      LPTV stations, 2,227 LPTV stations, and 11 TV Booster stations are now on file;
             33          WHEREAS, according to FCC records, over 4,500 television translator stations
             34      presently provide free over-the-air television to rural communities throughout the nation;
             35          WHEREAS, if this channel repacking were to become a reality, many of these
             36      translator stations would no longer remain in operation, requiring viewers to subscribe to either
             37      cable or satellite programming;
             38          WHEREAS, Utah has 649 of these television translator stations, and the state's rural
             39      viewers would be forced to either pay for subscription television or have no television
             40      reception;
             41          WHEREAS, after 40 years of analog broadcasting, the United States Congress
             42      mandated the broadcasting industry to make a conversion from analog to digital operation;
             43          WHEREAS, supplying the general public with free over-the-air digital television
             44      broadcast signals has been encouraged by elected officials and the FCC;
             45          WHEREAS, since the mandate, all TV Translator and LPTV licensees in the state of
             46      Utah have planned, acquired necessary funding, provided engineering, labor, construction,
             47      travel, new and upgraded buildings, air-conditioning, new towers, crane services, and extensive
             48      FCC licensing to help make the DTV transition possible;
             49          WHEREAS, through cooperation of the state's counties, the University of Utah, the
             50      State of Utah, and the Federal Communications Commission, the DTV transition has been
             51      made possible;
             52          WHEREAS, the state of Utah has supported the DTV transition through four CIB
             53      grants since 2005 in the amount of nearly $9,000,000;
             54          WHEREAS, the University of Utah has supported the DTV transition with a recent
             55      federal grant of approximately $2,000,000;
             56          WHEREAS, Congress developed and funded the coupon program at $1,500,000,000
             57      for a digital to analog converter box program;
             58          WHEREAS, the NTIA, a division of the federal government, currently offers all TV


             59      translator and LPTV licensees a reimbursement program for the digital to analog conversion;
             60          WHEREAS, small rural cable companies are beginning to use digital TV translator
             61      signals for their systems free of charge instead of paying for satellite feeds;
             62          WHEREAS, repacking would cause eight Salt Lake City primary television stations to
             63      find new channels, causing unaffordable consequences to both urban and rural communities in
             64      the state of Utah;
             65          WHEREAS, it would be impossible to continue the "Utah Daisy Chain" rural digital
             66      television translator services if the proposed block of television channels were reclaimed by the
             67      FCC, and this action would have a negative local economic impact to the affected counties;
             68          WHEREAS, broadcasters are required by the FCC to participate in the National
             69      Emergency Alert System and are also required to make regular tests to assure their systems are
             70      always ready to broadcast any local warnings, including flood conditions, high wind warnings,
             71      and bad road conditions, and these warnings are automatically retransmitted through television
             72      translator stations to also alert rural viewers;
             73          WHEREAS, closed captioning for the deaf is also a mandatory requirement of primary
             74      broadcast stations and automatically passes through television translators to rural viewers;
             75          WHEREAS, if these viewers do not have access to any local free over-the-air broadcast
             76      signals, they proceed without local warnings or closed captioning for the deaf;
             77          WHEREAS, counties in Utah are presently licensed with the FCC for 649 digital
             78      television translators, or 35%, of the nation's digital television translator licenses;
             79          WHEREAS, an additional 173 applications are waiting for final approval at the FCC,
             80      and when they are awarded, additional digital channels will be available to the remaining few
             81      underserved rural Utah communities;
             82          WHEREAS, the FCC recently passed a rule to allow anyone to operate unlicensed
             83      signals on unused channels within the present television bands, while the FCC still requires
             84      television translator stations to be licensed in these same bands;
             85          WHEREAS, these unlicensed devices will cause interference to existing digital
             86      television services nationwide, and many television translator viewers will possibly be
             87      vulnerable with unacceptable interference because they receive their home signals far beyond
             88      the FCC protected contours; and
             89          WHEREAS, the federal government should ensure that rural communities in Utah and


             90      throughout the nation are not forced to either pay for subscription television service or go
             91      without television:
             92          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the
             93      Governor concurring therein, strongly urge the President of the United States and the Federal
             94      Communications Commission (FCC) to not remove channels 32 to 51 from the current existing
             95      FCC channels 14 to 51 Television Broadcast Authorization because of its negative impact on
             96      off-air television reception in urban areas and to off-air viewers nationwide, including rural
             97      viewers, who would be forced to either pay for subscription television or go without television
             98      service.
             99          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to the President of
             100      the United States, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United
             101      States House of Representatives, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
             102      and each commission member, and to the members of Utah's congressional delegation.




Legislative Review Note
    as of 1-19-11 10:43 AM


Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel


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