Last Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted down S. 328, the DTV Delay Act, to extend the DTV transition date to June 12. The final outcome was 258 to 168, which did not clear the hurdle for a two-thirds vote on legislation placed on the House "suspension" calendar. However, the Senate on Thursday passed, under unanimous consent agreement, language very similar to the House version of the legislation. The bill will now return to the House for consideration. At this time, the House Rules Committee is expected to address the bill Tuesday, February 3 and send the bill to the House floor on Wednesday, February 4. After going through the Rules Committee, the bill will only require a simple majority to pass.

In light of the possible date change, NAB has already been engaged in discussions with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding further on-air messaging, including the timing of switching out spots and crawls, resetting the countdown clock and messaging on a going-forward basis.

NAB has produced a spot explaining the possible new June 12 date. We note that stations may wish to air the "Not Tech Minded" spot fed by NAB in August and September, which contains no date reference. Should the June 12 transition date legislation pass both chambers of Congress, this spot will be re-fed along with the new spot.

NAB is also aware that some stations may be planning to shut off analog signals on or about February 17. In discussions with Congress and FCC staff, NAB has emphasized that stations should be allowed to shut down analog operations early even if the DTV transition date is extended. Both have expressed agreement, and it is our understanding that stations that were planning to commence digital-only operations on February 17 may continue to do so, provided that they have given notification to the FCC. We are actively engaged in discussions with FCC staff to devise a reasonable approach for on-air viewer notification requirements for stations and viewers.

NAB urges stations that are planning to switch to digital-only operations and have not commenced on-air viewer notifications to immediately consult with their station counsel.

NAB also encourages stations to begin an inventory of all areas where the February 17 transition date will need to be updated should Congress change the national date. To begin this process, please see the checklist below.

TV Station Checklist:

• Spots
• Countdown Clocks*
• Crawls, snipes, tickers, etc.
• Web site content

*Note: Stations using the NAB Web flash clock won't have to update - that clock is linked to the NAB site and will be changed by NAB.