The DTV Consumer Education Rules Kick In Monday, March 31
As we reported in our March 3 email, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
has adopted the Digital Television (DTV) Consumer Education Plan proposed by NAB.
This is indeed a good outcome for our industry and the viewers that broadcasters serve across the country.
The FCC has just released a
Public Notice announcing that the effective date of their
rules will be Monday March 31. Thus stations must
file their first quarterly report (FCC Form 388) on April 10.
Stations Must Choose a Plan (and may not change): The plan
will apply to the station's analog channel and its primary digital stream. Multicast
channels are not included. Stations will be required to note which plan (Options
1, 2 or 3 – see below) they have adopted for in their April 10 FCC quarterly report.
Report All Activities for First Quarter: Although stations
are to report all DTV education activities for the first quarter
of 2008, they may make a notation in the comment section of FCC Form 388 of activities
that took place between January 1 and March 30 (or pre-effective dates), as opposed
to activities that occurred on the effective date of the rules (March 31).
Non-mandatory Activities: FCC Form 388 asks broadcasters to
report other activities, including on-air initiatives, Web site activity and outreach
efforts, such as speaking engagements and community events. While these activities
are not mandatory, we encourage stations to provide detailed information on their DTV consumer education efforts.
Accessing Form 388: The FCC will post the FCC Form 388 on its Web site at
www.fcc.gov/formpage.html.
How to File:
The quarterly report must be filed electronically in MB Docket No. 07-148 via
the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) database at
www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs. Please be sure to select "REPORT" under
"Document Type." Stations must also place a copy of FCC Form 388 in their public
file and must post the form on their station's Web site, if the station has one.
Please remember:
All On-Air Programming (Spots and Long-Form Programming) is required to be closed
captioned. We encourage stations to double check that captions are in place before airing. |
NAB's Legal Department has reviewed the 82-page order
and has summarized it below for easy reference. It includes a side-by-side comparison
of the FCC's plan and the NAB plan for commercial station selection.
Noncommercial
television stations can choose either Option 1, Option 2 or Option 3. For information
on the public station plan (Option 3 - which is available only to noncommercial
stations), please call the NAB Legal Department at (866) 682-0276 or Malena Barzilai
at the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) at (202) 654-4220.
End Date: March 31, 2009. Note: A station that has filed a
request and/or received approval for an extension of the deadline to serve its
full operating area must continue its education campaign until the request is
withdrawn or denied or, if granted, until it expires.
For More
Information: Please contact me, Ann Bobeck or Erin Dozier if you have
questions. Our contact information is listed below.
Best regards,
Marsha MacBride
Executive Vice President of Legal and Regulatory Affairs Marsha MacBride
202-429-5454
mmacbride@nab.org
Associate General Counsel Ann Bobeck
202-429-5456
abobeck@nab.org
Associate General Counsel Erin Dozier
202-775-4970
edozier@nab.org
Side-By-Side
Comparison of Options for Commercial Broadcasters
|
Requirement |
Option 1: FCC Plan |
Option 2: NAB Plan |
|
Spots |
4 spots,
each at a minimum of 15 seconds, per day until 3/31/08.
8 per day from 4/1/08-9/30/08.
12 per day from 10/1/08 - end of campaign.
See Order at para. 10. |
An average of 16 30-second spots per week. **
(or 2 :15 second spots to count as 1).
See Order at paras. 30-31. |
|
Spot Timing |
Spots must
air equally throughout the following quarters of the broadcast day: 6:01 a.m.
- 12 p.m., 12:01 a.m. - 6 p.m., 6:01 p.m. - 12 a.m. and 12:01 a.m. - 6 a.m.
At least 1 spot per day must be aired between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.
(7 p.m. - 10 p.m. Central/Mountain).
See Order at para. 10. |
All spots must air between 5 and 1 a.m.
25% must be aired between 6 p.m. and 11:35 p.m. (5 p.m. - 10:35 p.m. Central/Mountain).
See Order at para. 30. |
|
Spot Content |
Detailed
content requirements, including topics that must be addressed each calendar week. Must be closed captioned.
See Order at para. 13. |
No content requirements.
Must be closed captioned.
See Order at para. 30. |
|
Crawls, Snipes and/or Tickers
(CSTs) |
4 per day until 3/31/08.
8 per day from 4/1/08-9/30/08.
12
per day from 10/1/08 – end of campaign.
See Order at para. 10. |
An average of 16 per week.
See Order at para. 30. |
|
Crawls, Snipes and/or Tickers
(CSTs)
Timing |
CSTs must air equally throughout the following quarters of the broadcast
day: 6:01 a.m. - 12 p.m., 12:01 a.m. - 6 p.m., 6:01 p.m. - 12 a.m. and 12:01 a.m. - 6 a.m.
At least 1 CST per day must be aired between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.
(7 p.m. - 10 p.m. Central/Mountain).
See Order at para. 10. |
CSTs must air between 5 a.m. and 1 a.m.
25% of CSTs must be aired between 6 p.m. and 11:35 p.m. (5 p.m. - 10:35 p.m. Central/Mountain).
See Order at para. 30. |
|
Crawls, Snipes and/or Tickers
(CSTs)
Length |
60-second minimum.
See Order at para.12. |
No minimum. |
|
Crawls, Snipes and/or Tickers (CSTs)
Content |
Detailed content requirements, including language requirements.
See Order at para. 12. |
No content requirements. |
|
30-minute program |
Not required. |
Must be aired
at least once between hours of 8 a.m. and 11:35 p.m., Monday - Sunday, before February 17, 2009.
To facilitate station compliance, NAB is producing and will distribute a 30-minute program in English and in Spanish.
See Order at para. 31. |
|
100 Day Countdown |
Not required. |
Beginning
11/10/08 all stations must air a minimum of one on-air, 5-second graphic display
or segment per day to communicate the countdown to February 17, 2009.
See Order at para. 32 for a list of options. |
** Networks each will air a minimum of 2 spots per week. See Order at para. 30:
"Stations are free to use PSAs produced in-house or provided by outside sources such as NAB or the networks."
