Folks at the FCC are moving faster than a speeding bullet today:  less than 24 hours after the House passed the DTV Delay Act, the FCC issued a public notice specifying exactly how this would affect stations that plan to shut down their analog service before the new June 12th end date.

At first reading, several points become apparent:  first, it will be very much simpler and less expensive for most stations to shut off their analog transmitters on the original February 17th date, rather than delay.  Second, the FCC may not allow some stations to do so.  So, what's likely to happen?

• A number of analog stations will shut down on February 17th as planned, unless the FCC intervenes.
• No stations will be allowed to go dark between February 18th and March 13th, because that window is more than 90 days from the new transition date, and is therefore not eligible for the early termination provisions of the FCC's original rules.
• Some stations might apply for permission to end analog service between March 14th and June 11th -- "sorta early".  This will require going through the full filing and approval process, and appears to be fairly cumbersome.
• The remaining stations will continue to spin the electric meter with two transmitters until June 12th.

So what does all this have to do with crawls?  Stations that shut down early -- and that includes stations that are planning to pull the plug on February 17 as originally scheduled -- must air special crawls and/or messages announcing their intentions prior to shutdown.  Check out the FCC's requirements:

"...stations terminating on February 17 are required, as a condition of the waiver and if technically feasible, to broadcast a crawl on their analog channel regarding the station’s termination of analog service, for the seven day period from February 10 (11:59 p.m. EST) through the termination of the station’s analog signal on February 17 (11:59 p.m. EST).  For the first five days, i.e., February 10 (11:59 p.m. EST) through February 14 (11:59 p.m. EST), the crawl must be aired for 5 minutes of every hour of the station’s analog broadcast day, including during primetime.  For the final two days, i.e., February 16 (11:59 p.m. EST) through February 17 (11:59 p.m. EST), the crawl must be aired for 10 minutes of every hour of the station’s analog broadcast day, including during primetime."

Stations that want to hold to the original February 17 shutdown date must decide and notify the FCC by next Monday, the 9th -- with TurboCrawl starting on Tuesday.

Buckle up and hold on tight... the ride's about to start!

-- Jeff