FCC ignored the Spectrum Act in Changing WJLP's Channel, PMCM Says
The FCC ignored the Spectrum Act and congressionally mandated deadlines in its rejection of must-carry complaints filed by PMCM regarding its station WJLP Middletown Township, New Jersey, PMCM said in response to opposition filings against its application for review of…
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the decision. The must carry complaints were part of PMCM's years-long effort to transmit its signal on virtual channel 3.10, though Channel 3 already is assigned to another station. The FCC violated the 120-day statutory timetable for carriage complaints when the Media Bureau allowed Time Warner Cable, Service Electric Cable and RCN not to carry WJLP while it considered the issue, PMCM said. PMCM filed the complaints in 2014, while the bureau didn't take them up until 2016, PMCM said. The Media Bureau also violated a Spectrum Act rule against changing channels during the incentive auction when it changed WJLP's channel to 33, PMCM said. The FCC should grant the application for review and order WJLP to be carried on the cable systems on channel 3, the filing said.