Low-power television stations, as indicated by their name, operate at lower power levels and transmit over a smaller area than full-power television stations. Low-power television station licensees can include municipalities, universities, nonprofit groups, and small businesses. The development of low-power television stations has evolved since FCC’s 1956 order allowing licensing of low-power translator stations. FCC has maintained that most low-power television service is a “secondary service,” meaning low-power television stations may not cause interference to, and must accept interference from, full-power television stations, which are classified as a “primary service.” When interference cannot be remedied by adjusting an antenna or other technological methods, low-power television stations must vacate the channel. In such cases, low-power television stations can submit a displacement application to FCC requesting permission to move to another channel or they can request permission to turn off their broadcast signal while searching for another channel. Cable and satellite providers are generally not required to carry signals from low-power television stations, but some low-power television stations are carried by cable or satellite systems in situations where the low-power station wants to be carried and the cable or satellite provider decides to carry it. FCC uses the term “low-power television stations” to collectively refer to three types of stations: (1) translator stations; (2) low-power television stations that are not translator or Class A stations, which FCC refers to as LPTV stations; and (3) Class A stations. To ensure consistency with FCC’s terminology, we are using the term “low-power television stations” to refer to all three types of stations.  Translator stations: Translator stations retransmit programming from a primary station, such as a major network (ABC, CBS, FOX, or NBC) or its affiliate, to audiences unable to receive the signal directly from the primary station, usually because of distance or terrain barriers (mountains) that limit the signal’s ability to travel long distances. FCC rules prohibit translators from originating any programming.  LPTV stations: As with translator stations, FCC’s rules allow stations with LPTV licenses to retransmit another station’s signals, but the rules also allow LPTV stations to originate programming.  Class A stations: Unlike translator stations and LPTV stations, Class A stations are classified as a primary service. When Congress passed the Community Broadcasters Protection Act of 1999 (CBPA), it provided the existing LPTV stations a onetime opportunity to apply for a special primary status that gave the stations some interference protection from full-power stations, thereby limiting the instances in which Class A stations could be displaced by full-power stations. To qualify for Class A status, an LPTV station was required, during the 90 days prior to enactment of CBPA on November 29, 1999, to  have broadcast a minimum of 18 hours per day,  have broadcast an average of at least 3 hours of locally produced programming per week, and  be in compliance with FCC’s requirements for low-power television stations. Stations that applied for and received Class A status must meet requirements that are not applied to other low-power television stations, such as broadcasting an average of at least 3 hours per week of locally produced programming. Digital broadcasting provides clearer pictures and sound than analog broadcasting. Analog signals fade with distance, so consumers living farther from a television tower may experience degraded audio and video. With digital technology, pictures and sounds are converted into a stream of digits consisting of zeros and ones. Although digital signals also fade with distance, techniques can be applied to maintain and improve the quality of the broadcast so that pictures and sound generally retain their quality. To transition from analog to digital broadcasts, existing low-power television stations must take the following steps:  Apply to FCC for a construction permit for a digital “flash cut,” digital companion channel, or digital displacement. A flash cut means the station will simultaneously turn off its analog signal and turn on its digital signal, using its current analog channel as its new digital channel. A digital companion channel means a different channel is being used for the digital channel; thus, a station could operate its analog and digital transmissions concurrently on different channels until it decides to cease analog broadcasts. A digital displacement would mean that a station is moving to another channel and is transitioning to digital. It is similar to a flash cut in that the station will simultaneously turn off its analog signal and turn on its digital signal, but it will be using a different channel for the digital signal.  Construct its digital facilities by September 1, 2015.  Apply to FCC for a digital license upon completing the construction of its digital facilities. The station may begin broadcasting digitally while FCC is processing its license application. By completing the digital transition of low-power television stations, FCC will be able to reclaim spectrum being used by the stations that are broadcasting in both analog and in digital (on a companion channel). In addition, FCC has stated that having low-power television stations complete their digital transition will simplify FCC’s efforts to reallocate broadcast spectrum for broadband purposes, since there will be more certainty regarding which channels low-power television stations are using for their digital operations. The federal government has established some funding for low-power television stations to transition to digital. Congress created the Low- Power Television and Translator Upgrade Program, through which NTIA made $44 million available to eligible rural stations for reimbursement of equipment costs related to the transition from analog to digital service. In addition, some public television low-power facilities used NTIA’s Public Telecommunications Facilities Program and USDA’s Public Television Station Digital Transition Grant Program to fund some of the costs for transitioning to digital. As previously noted, we are using the term “low-power television stations” to refer to translators, LPTV stations, and Class A stations. These stations provide programming to communities throughout the United States and its territories. Translators: Over half of the roughly 6,400 low-power television stations are translators. According to FCC data, there are about 3,900 translators located across the country, as shown in figure 1. Translators tend to be concentrated in both rural and mountainous areas. Translator stations may be part of publicly owned systems that retransmit television signals to areas that cannot receive signals from full-power stations because they are too far away, or because terrain blocks the signals. In such cases, translators may be the only source of free over-the-air programming from nearby full-power television stations, including network programming, public broadcasting, and emergency alerts. For example, a translator association in Colorado is a publicly owned system of stations funded by local taxes that provides the only over-the-air television service in the area, retransmitting a number of satellite and regional full-power stations’ signals to rural communities surrounded by mountainous terrain. Many viewers in this area cannot otherwise receive over-the-air television signals from regional network broadcasters because of long distances and rugged terrain. Some translators are part of a “daisy chain,” in which multiple translators relay signals from one translator to another, allowing the originating station’s signal to be received a few hundred miles away. Translators receive programming on an input channel, and retransmit the signal on an output channel, meaning two channels are used per station, as shown in figure 2. In cases where multiple stations’ signals are being retransmitted, each station would require separate incoming and outgoing channels. For example, a translator system in Utah retransmits signals for several Salt Lake City stations. Because each site in Utah’s translator system must use 2 separate, nonadjacent channels to successfully retransmit each station’s signal with minimal interference, a site in the system retransmitting nine stations’ signals would need 18 channels. LPTV and Class A stations: According to FCC data, there are about 2,000 LPTV stations and about 500 Class A stations. As shown in figure 3, these stations are located in both rural and urban areas throughout the country. FCC does not require broadcasters to submit programming information, with limited exceptions, so it is difficult to report on the specific types of programming provided by low-power television stations. However, based on our interviews and reviews of documentation, it is evident that some LPTV and Class A stations provide foreign-language, religious, educational (e.g., programming from a university or local school system), and home shopping programming. For example, one licensee we contacted owns and operates several full-power, Class A, and LPTV stations that air Spanish-language programming as an affiliate group for the Telemundo network. This licensee told us that its Class A stations in Washington, D.C., and Orlando, Florida, air daily local news broadcasts. They also hold annual community events, providing the opportunity for face-to-face interactions between station personnel and the community. As previously noted, LPTV stations can act as translators by retransmitting programming from a primary station, so some LPTV stations may actually be serving the function of a translator, and the number of such stations is unknown. For example, a licensee told us that a LPTV station in Colorado acts primarily as a translator, but occasionally overrides the system’s broadcast with its own broadcasts of local high- school sporting events, community meetings, and other events. More than half of low-power television stations have taken steps to transition to digital. Low-power television station representatives we spoke with cited a number of benefits to broadcasting in digital, including improved picture and sound quality and improved broadcast coverage. Another significant benefit of digital is the ability to broadcast multiple program streams through one 6-MHz channel, known as multicasting.