[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 47, Volume 2]
[Revised as of October 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 47CFR73.610]

[Page 144-145]
 
                       TITLE 47--TELECOMMUNICATION
 
        CHAPTER I--FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED)
 
PART 73_RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES--Table of Contents
 
                 Subpart E_Television Broadcast Stations
 
Sec.  73.610  Minimum distance separations between stations.

    (a) The provisions of this section relate to allotment separations 
and station separations. Petitions to amend the Table of Allotments 
(Sec.  73.606(b)) (other than those also expressly requesting amendment 
of this section or Sec.  73.609) will be dismissed and all applications 
for new TV broadcast stations or for changes in the transmitter sites of 
existing stations will not be accepted for filing if they fail to comply 
with the requirements specified in paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of this 
section.

    Note: Licensees and permittees of television broadcast stations 
which were operating on April 14, 1952 pursuant to one or more 
separations below those set forth in Sec.  73.610 may continue to so 
operate, but in no event may they further reduce the separations below 
the minimum. As the existing separations of such stations are increased, 
the new separations will become the required minimum separations until 
separations are reached which comply with the requirements of Sec.  
73.610. Thereafter, the provisions of said section shall be applicable.

    (b) Minimum co-channel allotment and station separations:
    (1)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                     Kilometers
                               Zone                                ---------------------------------------------
                                                                        Channels 2-13          Channels 14-69
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I.................................................................    272.7 (169.5 miles)    248.6 (154.5 miles)
II................................................................    304.9 (189.5 miles)    280.8 (174.5 miles)
III...............................................................    353.2 (219.5 miles)    329.0 (204.5 miles)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (2) The minimum co-channel distance separation between a station in 
one zone and a station in another zone shall be that of the zone 
requiring the lower separation.
    (c) Minimum allotment and station adjacent channel separations 
applicable to all zones:
    (1) Channels 2-13 95.7 kilometers (59.5 miles). Channels 14-69 87.7 
kilometers (54.5 miles).
    (2) Due to the frequency spacing which exists between Channels 4 and 
5, between Channels 6 and 7, and between Channels 13 and 14, the minimum 
adjacent channel separations specified above shall not be applicable to 
these pairs of channels (see Sec.  73.603(a)).
    (d) In addition to the requirements of paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) 
of this section, the minimum assignment and station separations between 
stations on Channels 14-69, inclusive, as set forth in Table II of Sec.  
73.698 must be met in either rule-making proceedings looking towards the 
amendment of the Table of Assignments (Sec.  73.606(b)) or in licensing 
proceedings. No channel listed in column (1) of Table II of Sec.  73.698 
will be assigned to any city, and no application for an authorization to 
operate on such a channel will be granted, unless the distance 
separations indicated at the top of columns (2) through (7), inclusive, 
are met with respect to each of the channels listed in those columns and 
parallel with the channel in column (1).
    (e) The zone in which the transmitter of a television station is 
located or proposed to be located determines the applicable rules with 
respect to co-channel distance separations where the transmitter is 
located in a different zone from that in which the channel to be 
employed is located.

[[Page 145]]

    (f) The distances listed below apply only to allotments and 
assignments on Channel 6 (82-88 MHz). The Commission will not accept 
petitions to amend the Table of Allotments, applications for new 
stations, or applications to change the channel or location of existing 
assignments where the following minimum distances (between transmitter 
sites, in kilometers) from any FM Channel 253 allotment or assignment 
are not met:

       Minimum Distance Separation from FM Channel 253 (98.5 MHz)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             TV Zones II
                   Fm Class                      TV Zone I      & III
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A.............................................           17           22
B1............................................           19           23
B.............................................           22           26
C3............................................           19           23
C2............................................           22           26
C1............................................           29           33
C.............................................           36           41
------------------------------------------------------------------------


(Secs. 4, 5, 303, 48 Stat., as amended, 1066, 1068, 1082 (47 U.S.C. 154, 
155, 303))

[28 FR 13660, Dec. 14, 1963, as amended at 37 FR 25842, Dec. 5, 1972; 44 
FR 65765, Nov. 15, 1979; 47 FR 35990, Aug. 18, 1982; 50 FR 23698, June 
5, 1985; 51 FR 44070, Dec. 8, 1986; 54 FR 14964, Apr. 14, 1989; 54 FR 
16368, Apr. 24, 1989; 54 FR 35340, Aug. 25, 1989]