FCC downgrades Class A Austin TV station to LPTV

Following a trend involving several other Class A Texas TV stations, and other Class A TV stations around the country, the FCC has downgraded an Austin Class A TV station to LPTV status after it did not timely file its quarterly “kid vid” reports.

The Community Broadcasters Protection Act of 1999 requires Class A licensees to be “in compliance with the commission’s operating rules for full-power television stations.”

This includes the required quarterly filing of FCC Form 398 (Children’s Television Programming Report).

In two 2011 letters, the FCC requested information from KQUX-CA, licensed to the Louis Martinez Family Group, LLC, regarding its apparent failure to make the required filing of Form 398 for the fourth quarter in 2006 and all four quarters in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

The station failed to respond to the FCC’s letters.

The FCC’s video division then issued an Order to Show Cause why the license for KQUX-CA should not be modified to specify the station as an LPTV station.

KQUX was afforded until March 30, 2012, to file a written statement why its license should not be modified and was also notified that if no written statement was filed by that date, it would be deemed to have consented to the modification of its Class A license.

The FCC said the station did not file a written statement in response to the Order and late this month the commission issued the order downgrading KQUX to LPTV status.