WNAC, LLC HEREBY REQUESTS WAIVER OF THE FREEZE ON THE FILING OF APPLICATIONS REQUESTING EXPANSION OF A DTV STATION'S POST-TRANSITION SERVICE AREA BEYOND THAT ESTABLISHED BY APPENDIX B TO THE DTV TABLE OF ALLOTMENTS AND PROCESSING AND GRANT OF THIS APPLICATION. SEE FREEZE ON THE FILING OF CERTAIN TV AND DTV REQUESTS FOR ALLOTMENT OR SERVICE AREA CHANGES, PUBLIC NOTICE, DA 04-2446 (REL. AUG. 3, 2004) (THE 'APPLICATION FREEZE NOTICE'). WNAC, LLC SEEKS WAIVER PURSUANT TO THE POLICIES SET FORTH IN THE THIRD PERIODIC REVIEW REPORT AND ORDER (THIRD PERIODIC REVIEW OF THE COMMISSIONS RULES AND POLICIES AFFECTING THE CONVERSION TO DIGITAL TELEVISION, MB DOCKET NO. 07-91, REPORT AND ORDER, FCC 07-288, PARA. 151 (REL. DEC. 31, 2007) (THE '5-MILE WAIVER' POLICY) AND IN THE APPLICATION FREEZE NOTICE, WHICH STATED THAT APPLICATIONS WOULD BE ACCEPTED WHEN 'NECESSARY OR OTHERWISE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST FOR TECHNICAL OR OTHER REASONS TO MAINTAIN QUALITY SERVICE TO THE PUBLIC.' APPLICATION FREEZE NOTICE AT 1. WNAC-DT PROPOSES TO OPERATE ON POST-TRANSITION CHANNEL 12, AN ENTIRELY SEPARATE CHANNEL FROM THE STATION'S PRE-TRANSITION DIGITAL CHANNEL (CH. 54) OR ITS ANALOG CHANNEL (CH. 64). IT PROPOSES TO USE A NEW DIRECTIONAL ANTENNA SYSTEM. TO MAINTAIN THE STATION'S SERVICE CONTOUR ENTIRELY WITHIN THAT ESTABLISHED BY APPENDIX B TO THE DTV TABLE OF ALLOTMENTS USING THE PROPOSED ANTENNA, WNAC-DT WOULD BE FORCED TO REDUCE EFFECTIVE RADIATED POWER ('ERP') TO 8 KW. THE SERVICE AREA POPULATION OF SUCH AN 8KW FACILITY WOULD BE 5,762,113 PERSONS, WHICH WOULD REPRESENT A 4.8% REDUCTION IN THE SERVICE AREA POPULATION OF 6,053,760 PERSONS CURRENTLY SERVED BY WNAC-DT'S LICENSED DTV FACILITY ON CHANNEL 54. THE FACILITY PROPOSED IN THIS APPLICATION WOULD PROVIDE SERVICE TO 6,045,921 PERSONS, OR 99.9% OF THE SERVICE AREA POPULATION OF THE STATION'S CURRENTLY LICENSED DIGITAL FACILITY, THEREBY MINIMIZING ANY POTENTIAL LOSS OF SERVICE. THE FACILITIES PROPOSED IN THIS APPLICATION WILL RESULT IN A SLIGHT EXPANSION OF WNAC-DT'S SERVICE AREA. AS SHOWN IN THE ATTACHED COVERAGE MAP AT FIGURE 2, HOWEVER, THE PROPOSED FACILITY WILL NOT RESULT IN EXPANSION OF THE SERVICE AREA AS DEFINED BY APPENDIX B TO THE DTV TABLE OF ALLOTMENTS BY MORE THAN 5 MILES IN ANY DIRECTION. THE PROPOSED OPERATION WOULD NOT CREATE ADDITIONAL INTERFERENCE IN EXCESS OF 0.5 PERCENT TO ANY OTHER STATION. FOR THE REASONS SET FORTH HEREIN, APPLICANT BELIEVES THAT GRANT OF A WAIVER OF THE FILING FREEZE ON EXPANSION APPLICATIONS WOULD SERVE THE PUBLIC INTEREST AND IS CONSISTENT WITH THE POLICIES SET FORTH IN THE APPLICATION FREEZE NOTICE AND THE THIRD PERIODIC REVIEW REPORT AND ORDER. APPLICANT URGES THE FCC TO GRANT SUCH A WAIVER AND EXPEDITIOUSLY PROCESS AND GRANT THIS APPLICATION. THE NET SERVICE POPULATION FIGURES CITED ABOVE WERE BASED ON AN OET-69 LONGLEY-RICE COVERAGE ANALYSIS CONSIDERING LOSSES DUE TO TERRAIN AND INTERFERENCE, USING 2000 CENSUS DATA. THE SERVICE POPULATION FOR THE LICENSED WNAC-DT OPERATION WAS BASED ON A PRE-TRANSITION ANALYSIS. ALL OTHER SERVICE POPULATION FIGURES WERE BASED ON A POST-TRANSITION ANALYSIS. THE PROPOSED OPERATION WILL PROVIDE THE NECESSARY PROTECTION TO RADIO ASTRONOMY INSTALLATIONS AND FCC MONITORING STATIONS. CANADIAN COORDINATION - THE PROPOSED TRANSMITTER SITE IS LOCATED 350.5 KM FROM THE US-CANADIAN BORDER. THEREFORE, IT IS REPECTFULLY REQUESTED THAT THE FCC COORDINATE THIS PROPOSAL WITH CANADA, IF NECESSARY. IT IS NOTED THAT THE PROPOSED FACILITIES ARE FULLY-SPACED TO ALL PERTINENT CANADIAN NTSC AND DTV ALLOTMENTS AS DEMONSTRATED IN THE ATTACHED POST-TRANSITION ALLOCATION STUDY (FIGURE 3).