After Tower Company Repack 'Pause,' FCC Offers Deadline Waivers on COVID-19

Asked if continued coronavirus aftereffects could cause the agency to push deadlines beyond the July 3 end of phase 10, Incentive Auction Task Force Chair Jean Kiddoo said the agency will monitor the matter. “This is a situation that is changing rapidly,” she said in an interview. “We wanted to let stations know that we understand the problem.” An FCC news release Tuesday said that FCC Chairman was concerned the virus could cause repacking delays.

“I have decided to recall our crews and suspend field service for approximately two weeks,” said Coast to Coast Tower Service CEO Todd Jackson in a letter to customers and vendors Friday. Jackson is concerned about the shifting information on the virus and possible exposure of tower workers, who cannot telecommute. “That does not mean their safety is less important than someone’s safety that can work from home," he said. The 'field service pause' is going to impact "our already strained repack schedule,” Jackson said.

Jackson said in an interview the gradual buildup of worsening information on the infection and reports from China and Italy led him to act. Jackson said essential services need to continue despite the virus, but the TV repack isn’t one of them. The reshuffling of TV stations' frequencies and over-the-air channels could be put on hold until COVID-19 is under control and it wouldn’t limit TV stations' ability to transmit information, he said.

The letter and possibility that other companies may take similar steps spurred the FCC’s waiver announcement, Kiddoo told us. “Two weeks during a phase is a lot of time,” Kiddoo said. Phase 9 started Saturday -- the day after the White House declared a national emergency -- and ends May 2. Kiddo said the waiver applies for any delays stations may experience due to the virus: “We didn’t want to just have it apply to tower crews.” Staff "anticipate that there may be additional suspensions of service and other developments in this unfolding situation that may impact the transition,” said a public notice. The agency also granted construction permit extensions to certain stations assigned to phase 8 related to delivery delays of equipment being manufactured outside the U.S., said the PN in docket 16-306.

Concerns about the virus haven’t yet slowed Precision Communications tower work but have caused employees to be shifted around, said Ron Scalfani, logistics coordinator. The tower company is working to “beef up” its crews to better allow employees who aren’t feeling well to stay home, Scalfani said.

WOSU-TV Columbus, Ohio, General Manager Tom Rieland emailed that COVID-19 hasn’t made the technical aspects of his station’s repack more difficult. “Our only issue ... [is] that we have had to go to a lower power temp antenna for the past few days,” he said. “This impacts some of our over-the-air viewers during this critical time and we’ve had plenty of calls.” Rieland said the station is “working hard to resolve this and provide information about rescanning as soon as possible.”

Tower crews are particularly vulnerable to exposure because they travel for work, living out of hotels and restaurants, Scalfani said. Restrictions closing restaurants and limiting travel or hotel visits could begin to affect the ability of tower crews to do their jobs, though Scalfani said so far his company has been able to work. “With the situation changing almost hourly at this time, I feel that pausing field operations for a couple of weeks will allow us to receive reliable information on how we should move forward,” said Jackson’s letter.

The Department of Homeland Security’s National Communications Coordination Branch Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency gave state broadcast associations letters Monday intended to allow broadcasters to perform their functions and restore “critical communications infrastructure” during the national emergency. “In the course of providing this support, the bearer must be able to travel to and access the infrastructure facilities during curfews and restricted travel periods in order to prevent loss of service or restore of critical communications services,” the letters said.

“In this time of uncertainty, it’s vital that local TV viewers maintain access to credible broadcast news sources,” said NAB, praising the FCC’s action. “Providing relief in the form of the extension of deadlines is an important step for the FCC to take,” said National Association of Tower Erectors President Todd Schlekeway.