Broadcasting (Oct - Dec 1945)

Report on Rules and Regulations and Standards Of Good Engineering Practice for Commercial Television (See story on page 15) FCC policy on rules to be adopted concerning television, covering allocations, operating schedules, multiple ownership, network regulations, sharing of antenna sites, announcement of mechanical reproductions, and station identification are contained in this report. This report contains the Commission's decision with respect to the seven suggested rules and regulations concerning commercial television broadcast stations operating below 300 mc. which were set forth in the Commission's order of September 20, 1945, and which were the subject of oral argument on October 11 and 12. Only the substance of these rules and regulations is discussed in this report. The text of the rules and regulations themselves and the standards of good engineering practice based upon these regulations will be issued in tne immediate future. The allocation plan which was set forth as Item 7 in the order of September 20, 1945, will be discussed first. Three types of stations were proposed: Community, Metropolitan, and Rural. There was general agreement among those appearing at the hearing that this was a proper classification of television stations and the rules will so provide. In the order of September 20, 1945, the Commission proposed that channels 1, 12 and 13 be set aside for Community stations and the remainder be used for Metropolitan or Rural stations. Under this proposal New York City would have only four television stations but this would make possible at least one television station in practically all of the larger cities in the country. Under the industry proposals which had theretofore been made to the Commission, New York City would have 7 stations but many important cities would not be able to have any television stations. At the hearing Television Broadcasters Association suggested a different as« signment from that proposed in the Commission's order. Instead of using three channels for Community stations, it proposed that only one channel, No. 1, be used for Community stations and that the remaining channels should be used for Metropolitan or Rural stations. In addition, it pointed out that provision could be made for 7 stations in New York if directional antennas were employed in some of the smaller cities. Data were submitted in support of this plan. The Commission has carefully studied the TBA proposal and the data submitted therewith. The Commission is of the opinion that it is desirable to have 7 television stations in New York City if this can be done without depriving other important communities of the opportunity of having any television station. An examination of the TBA proposal reveals that there are several disadvantages in attempting to accomplish this objective by the use of directional antennas. In the first place, the Commission desires to avoid as much as possible the resort to directional antennas for television. With the Metropolitan District Sales (U. S. Census 1940) Rank Akron 35 Albany, Schenectady, Troy 23 Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton 43 Altoona 111 Amarillo 136 Asheville Atlanta Atlantic City Augusta, Ga. Austin Baltimore Beaumont, Port Arthur Binghamton Birmingham Boston 25 75 349,705 431,575 325,142 114,094 53,463 76,324 442,294 100,096 87,809 106,193 1,046,692 138,608 145,156 407,851 2,350,514 great increase in civil aviation as a result of the war, it is going to be increasingly difficult to find suitable antenna sites that do not constitute a hazard to air navigation. If directional antennas are used, there is much less flexibility in choosing antenna sites, thus increasing the possibility of conflict with air navigation requirements. Moreover, directional antennas will have to be located away from cities with the result that prooiems of shadows and multipath distortion in rendering service to cities will be much greater than where the antenna is located in the city itself— in most instances antennas can be located in the city itself where no directional antenna is required. In the second place, the directional antenna patterns proposed by TBA result in many instances in highly artificial service areas with a good part of the station's signal strength being directed out to sea. Moreover, the service area of the stations using directional antennas would be no larger than that of a Community station but such stations would be as expensive to construct and operate as Metropolitan stations. The Commission has devised a plan which meets the objectives of the TBA proposal but does not involve the use of directional antennas. Under this plan it will be possible to have 7 television stations in New York City and to have as many television stations in the other cities throughout the country as was proposed in the TBA plan. Generally speaking, what has been done is to provide for Community stations in the smaller communities where the TBA plan had proposed high-power stations with directional antennas. In addition, television stations have been located somewhat closer together in the eastern part of the United States than was done in the original Commission proposal with the result that in many instances stations may not be able to serve out to their 500 uv/m contour. However, on an overall basis the average service area of all stations in the eastern part of the United States will be greater under the Commission proposal than under the TBA proposal.1 Under the Commission's plan only television channel No. 1 will be designated as a Community channel. All of the other television channels will be available for either Metropolitan or Rural stations. However, in the smaller cities Community stations will be assigned to these channels. Under the rules and regulations the official standard of protection of television stations will be the 5000 uv/m contour. The Commission will, however, make every effort wherever possible to permit stations to serve beyond their 5000 uv/m contour but no protection can be accorded beyond that contour. In the table below, there are set forth the channels which are available at the present time under the Commission's new allocation. The table will be revised from time to time depending upon the demand for television stations which may exist in the various cities. Where it is desired to use a different channel in such area or to use another channel in an area conflicting therewith, it must be shown that public interest, convenience, and necessity will be better served thereby than by the allocation set forth in the table. 1 In the remainder of the country, there is ho difference between the TBA proposal and the Commission's allocation. Channel Numbers 2, 4, 5, 7 5, 7, 12 2, 5, 8, 1 Total Stations 6, 12 8, 10, 12 2, 11, 13 Metropolitan District (U. S. Census 1940) Bridgeport, Conn. Buffalo, Niagara Canton, Ohio Cedar Rapids Charleston, S. C. Charleston, W. Va. Charlotte Chattanooga Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Columbia Columbus, Ga. Co'umb'is, Ohio Cormis Christi Dallas Davenport, Rock Island, Moline Dayton Decatur Denver Des Moines Detroit Duhith, Superior Durham Fl Paso Erie Fvansville, Ind. Fall River, New Bedford Flint Fort Wayne Fort Worth Fresno Galveston Grand Panids Greensboro Hamilton, Middle Harrisburg Hartford, New Britain Houston Huntington, W. Va.; Ashland. Ky Indianapolis Jackson 128 Jacksonville 66 Johnstown, Pa. 100 Kalamazoo 112 Kansas Citv. Mo.; Kansas City, Kans. 17 Knoxville 87 Lancaster 91 Lansing 94 Lincoln 109 Little Rock 98 Los Angeles 3 21 24 Louisville Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill Macon Madison TH Manchester 118 Memnhis 37 M-'ami 38 Milwaukee 15 Minneapolis, St. Paul 11 Mobile 119 Montgomery 196 Nashville New Haven New Orleans New York. Northeastern New Jersey Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newnort "News Oklahoma Citv Omaha, Council Bl-vffs P°oria Philadelohia Phoenix Pittsburgh Portland. Maine Portland, Or°cr. Providence, R. I. Pueblo 1 Racine, Kenosha Reading Richmond Roanoke 1 Rochester Rockford 1 Sacramento Saeinaw. Bay City St. .Tosenh 1 St. Louis Salt Lake City San Antonio San Die^ro San TVan cisco, Oakland San Jose Savannah 1 Scranton, Wilkes Barre Seattle Shrevenort Sioux City 1 South Bend Spokane Springfie'd, 111. 1 Sprin<rfield, Mass.; Holvoke Springfield, Mo. 1 Soringfield, Ohio 1 Stockton I Syracuse Tacoma Tamna, St. Petersburg 216 621 857,719 200,352 73.219 98.711 19«,332 112,986 103,215 4,499,126 789 309 1,214.9/13 89 . 555 92,478 365,796 70 , 677 376,548 174,995 271.513 65,764 384.372 60 683 115>oi 134 039 141,614 272,648 188,554 13/1,385 207.677 97 504 71 , 677 209,873 73,055 510,397 170., 979 4*5.357 88 003 195, «19 151 ,781 77,213 634,093 1 51 , 829 130,027 110,356 8«,191 434,408 334,969 74,830 78,349 81 ,932 399,477 2*0,537 700 536 911,077 144,906 93,G97 2"1 ',7«9 ,303 oog 540i 030 287 269 1K9.566 2 898,644 191 ,828 1 99d 060 ' 106,566 406 406 711.500 69.039 135 075 175', 355 ?4". 674 110.593 411,970 105 959 158,999 153,388 86,991 1 367,977 204,488 319,010 256,268 1,428,525 629,581 452,639 112,225 87,791 147,022 141,370 89,484 394,623 70,514 77,406 79,337 258,352 156,018 Channel Numbers Total Stations Metro Com Metro Com politan munity politan munity 1 1 4, 7, 9, 13 . . 4 7, 11 7, 10, 13 7, 11, 13 3, 6, 10, 12 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 2, 4, 7, 11 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 2, 4. 8 3, 12 3, 6, 8, 10 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 2, 4, 5, 9 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 3, 6, 8, 10, 12 2, 4, 5, 7 2, 4, 6, 8 13 10, 12 3, 6, 8, 10 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 2, 4, 5, 7, < 2, 4, 5, 7 3, 6, 8, 10 2, 4, 5, 7, i 3, 5, 9, 11 6, 10 4, 5, 7, 9 4, 7, 11, 13 2, 4, 5, 9 3, 6, 7 3, 6, 12 3, 6, 10, 12 2, 4, 5, 7 3, 6, 8, 10 3, 8 3, 6, 8, 10, 12 10 4, 5, 7, 9, 13 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 3, 6, 8, 10 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 13 3, 5, 9, 11 4, 9, 11 2, i, 5, (Continued on page 84) ROADCASTING • Telecasting November 26, 1945 • Page