DA 00-2190 September 25, 2000 OCTOBER 1, 2000 INITIAL FILING DATE FOR LOW POWER TELEVISION/TELEVISION TRANSLATOR AND CLASS A TELEVISION "MORE INCLUSIVE" MINOR MODIFICATION APPLICATIONS POSTPONED UNTIL JANUARY 15, 2001 On April 4, 2000, the Commission amended its rules to adopt a more inclusive definition of minor facilities modifications for low power television, television translator and Class A television stations, to permit these stations to change facilities outside of a designated filing window; for example, by increasing a station's radiated power or antenna height in a manner that would extend its protected service contour. See Report and Order, Establishment of a Class A Television Service, 15 FCC Rcd 6355, 6398-6400 (2000), petitions for reconsideration pending. The Commission stated, however, that it would not permit the filing of Class A, LPTV and TV translator facilities change applications, pursuant to the more inclusive minor change definition, until October 1, 2000. Report and Order at 6400. On May 1, 2000, the Mass Media Bureau and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau announced a July 31, 2000 limited auction filing window for certain Class A, LPTV and TV translator stations, and by Public Notice released July 25, 2000, partially extended the window to August 31, 2000. The Commission received over 4000 applications during the auction filing window, and is in the process of entering the applications into the Commission's consolidated data base system (CDBS). The Commission has now received a petition from the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers (AFCCE), requesting a postponement of the October 1, 2000 initial filing date for such minor modification applications. In support, AFCCE states that the auction applications will affect the acceptability of contemplated minor change applications permitted to be filed on and after October 1, 2000, and that engineers cannot prepare minor change applications which do not conflict with previously filed auction applications until the Commission has entered all of the auction applications into CDBS. Therefore, AFCCE requests that the initial filing date be postponed until 30 days after completion of the entry of the auction applications. This request is unopposed. We acknowledge the concerns of the petitioner that additional time is necessary to prepare acceptable minor change applications on the basis of necessary information in CDBS. Therefore, we will postpone the initial filing date for the filing of Class A, LPTV and TV translator facilities changes application, pursuant to the more inclusive minor change definition set forth in the Report and Order, Establishment of a Class A Television Service, until January 15, 2001. This will permit the Commission to enter all of the applications filed during the auction window into CDBS, and will allow parties intending to file minor change applications at least 30 days to consider all of the applications filed during the auction filing window. In the meantime, applicants may continue to file minor change applications pursuant to the definition of minor change facilities set forth in 47 C.F.R.  73.3572(a)(2) (1999) For further information, contact Hossein Hashemzadeh of the Video Services Division at 202-418-1600.