A Denver-area broadcaster is asking the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider a long-standing policy barring noncommercial FM translators from rebroadcasting HD multicast channels of commercial stations, arguing the rule should not apply when the programming itself is noncommercial.
Educational Communications of Colorado Springs has filed a petition for reconsideration challenging the Media Bureau’s dismissal of its application to change the primary station for the Littleton, CO-licensed translator K213EG at 90.5 FM from “K-Love” affiliate KLDV (91.1) to the HD3 channel of Audacy’s classic rock “99.5 The Mountain” KQMT. The application included a request for a waiver of FCC rules that generally prohibit noncommercial translators from rebroadcasting commercial stations.
According to the petition, FCC staff dismissed an application in June that sought to have the noncommercial translator fed by the commercial station’s HD3 subchannel. Educational Communications argued that it should be allowed since even though KQMT is a commercial station, the translator’s programming would be fed by a signal that operated as though it were noncommercial…