Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 170 / Tuesday, September 5, 2023 / Proposed Rules 60611 

purposes of publication in the Federal 

Register. 

Dated: August 30, 2023. 

Vanessa Garcia, 

Federal Register Liaison, Centers for Medicare 

and Medicaid Services. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19070 Filed 8–31–23; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Part 73 

[MB Docket No. 23–296; RM–11964; DA 23– 

774; FR ID 168460] 

Television Broadcasting Services Des 

Moines, Iowa 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Commission has before it 

a petition for rulemaking (Petition) filed 

by Iowa Public Broadcasting Board 

(Petitioner or IPB), the licensee of 

noncommercial educational television 

PBS member station KDIN–TV (KDIN– 

TV or Station), channel *11, Des 

Moines, Iowa. The Petitioner requests 

the substitution of channel *34 in place 

of channel *11 at Des Moines, Iowa in 

the Table of TV Allotments, and 

requests that we delete vacant channel 

*34, Ames, Iowa and substitute it with 

the allotment of vacant channel *21 to 

Ames, Iowa. 

DATES: Comments must be filed on or 

before October 5, 2023 and reply 

comments on or before October 20, 

2023. 

ADDRESSES: Federal Communications 

Commission, Office of the Secretary, 45 

L Street NE, Washington, DC 20554. In 

addition to filing comments with the 

FCC, interested parties should serve 

counsel for the Petitioner as follows: 

Derek Teslik, Gray Miller Persh LLP, 

2233 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Suite 226, 

Washington, DC 20007. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Emily Harrison, Media Bureau, at (202) 

418–1665; or Emily Harrison, Media 

Bureau, at Emily.Harrison@fcc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

support, the Petitioner asserts that 

allowing the Station to move from a 

VHF to a UHF channel would serve the 

public interest by resolving viewer 

reception challenges and significantly 

improving the Station’s over-the-airservice to the viewers in its existing 

service area. Petitioner includes with its 

Petition a number of viewer complaints 

highlighting current reception problems. 

Petitioner states that the Commission 

has recognized that VHF channels pose 

challenges for their use in providing 

digital television service, including 

propagation characteristics that allow 

undesired signals and noise to be 

receivable at relatively far distances and 

large variability in the performance of 

indoor antennas available to viewers, 

with most antennas performing very 

poorly on high VHF channels. An 

engineering statement provided by the 

Petitioner confirms that the proposed 

channel *34 contour would provide full 

principal community coverage to Des 

Moines, Iowa. The proposed move from 

channel *11 to channel *34 is also not 

predicted to create a loss of service to 

any viewers and according to the 

engineering statement will actually 

increase the area covered while serving 

the population with higher signal levels. 

Petitioner acknowledges that the 

proposed channel substitution would 

not meet the distance separation 

requirements regarding the vacant 

channel *34 allotment at Ames, Iowa. 

As a result, Petitioner requests that 

simultaneously with the substitution of 

channel *34 at Des Moines, Iowa, we 

delete the vacant channel *34 allotment 

at Ames, Iowa and substitute it with the 

allotment of vacant channel *21 to 

Ames, Iowa. As stated in its 

supplemental engineering statement, the 

proposed channel *21 is described as 

meeting the distance criteria found in 

section 73.623(d) of the Commission’s 

rules, and an analysis using the 

Commission’s TVStudy software is 

provided showing no interference to any 

other station or allotment. 

This is a synopsis of the 

Commission’s Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking, MB Docket No. 23–296; 

RM–11964; DA 23–774, adopted August 

29, 2023, and released August 29, 2023. 

The full text of this document is 

available for download at https://

www.fcc.gov/edocs. To request materials 

in accessible formats (Braille, large 

print, computer diskettes, or audio 

recordings), please send an email to 

FCC504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer & 

Government Affairs Bureau at (202) 

418–0530 (VOICE), (202) 418–0432 

(TTY). 

This document does not contain 

information collection requirements 

subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act 

of 1995, Public Law 104–13. In addition, 

therefore, it does not contain any 

proposed information collection burden 

‘‘for small business concerns with fewer 

than 25 employees,’’ pursuant to the 

Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 

2002, Public Law 107–198, see 44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(4). Provisions of the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act of 1980, 5 U.S.C. 601– 

612, do not apply to this proceeding. 

Members of the public should note 

that all ex parte contacts are prohibited 

from the time a Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking is issued to the time the 

matter is no longer subject to 

Commission consideration or court 

review, see 47 CFR 1.1208. There are, 

however, exceptions to this prohibition, 

which can be found in Section 1.1204(a) 

of the Commission’s rules, 47 CFR 

1.1204(a). 

See Sections 1.415 and 1.420 of the 

Commission’s rules for information 

regarding the proper filing procedures 

for comments, 47 CFR 1.415 and 1.420. 

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 73 

Television. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Thomas Horan, 

Chief of Staff, Media Bureau. 

Proposed Rule 

For the reasons discussed in the 

preamble, the Federal Communications 

Commission proposes to amend 47 CFR 

part 73 as follows: 

PART 73—RADIO BROADCAST 

SERVICE 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 73 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 154, 155, 301, 303, 

307, 309, 310, 334, 336, 339. 

■ 2. In § 73.622, in the table in 

paragraph (j), under Iowa, revise the 

entry for Ames and Des Moines to read 

as follows: 

§ 73.622 Digital television table of 

allotments. 

* * * * * 

(j) * * * 

Community Channel No. 

* * * * * 

Iowa 

* * * * * 

Ames ................ 5, *21, 23. 

Des Moines ...... 8, 13, 16, 19, *34. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19110 Filed 9–1–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 


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