PUBLIC NOTICE
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th St., S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20554
News Media Information 202 / 418-0500
Internet: http://www.fcc.gov
TTY: 1-888-835-5322
DA 09-1253
Released:  June 3, 2009
DIGITAL TRANSITION CALL SIGN PROCEDURES
In anticipation of the completion of the digital transition on June 12, 2009, the Media Bureau 
announces the procedures for full power television stations to secure their preferred station call sign.  This 
Public Notice describes the options available to full power stations to retain or change their call sign.
At the beginning of the digital transition, almost all full power television stations were assigned a 
paired digital channel to operate in conjunction with their incumbent analog facilities.1 During the 
transition, stations retained their existing analog call sign (i.e., WFCC or WFCC-TV) and were assigned 
the same call sign for their associated digital facility with the suffix “-DT” to differentiate the digital from 
the analog signal (i.e., WFCC-DT).  The station’s existing analog call sign remained as the station’s 
official call sign for purposes of the Commission’s Consolidated Database System (CDBS).2
As stations prepare to terminate operation of their analog facilities and transition to digital-only 
service by the June 12, 2009 deadline, they may elect which call sign they will use after their transition.  
Stations have the flexibility to use their existing analog call sign (i.e., WFCC or WFCC-TV) for their 
digital signal after they transition or to use a digital “-DT” suffix call sign.3 By default, the call sign 
system will assign these stations their existing analog call sign.  Therefore, stations that want to continue 
using their existing analog call sign need not take any action.  They may use their existing analog call sign 
for their station identification4 and should continue to use it for purposes of accessing CDBS.  Stations 
that want to use the “-DT” suffix rather than their analog call sign may elect to do so without charge 
through the Commission’s on-line call sign authorization and reservation system 
(http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/callsign/prod/main.html) after they have completed their permanent 
transition to digital service.
Digital-only stations that did not have an analog channel will, by default, retain their digital “–
DT” suffix call sign.   These stations, however, have the same flexibility to use either a “-TV” or “-DT” 
suffix and may, after the June 12 transition has been completed, request a change from “-DT” to “-TV” 
without charge through the call sign authorization and reservation system.  Similarly, if their four-letter 
  
1  See Advanced Television Systems and Their Impact Upon the Existing Television Broadcast Service, Fifth Report 
and Order, 12 FCC Rcd 12809, 12815 (1997). 
2 The only exceptions were those stations that had already transitioned to digital and had requested a change to their 
official call sign (i.e., WFCC to WFCC-DT) and those single-channel, digital-only stations that were initially 
assigned a digital call sign. 
3 It shall continue to be the case that stations with a “-TV” suffix that share their call sign with a station in another 
service (i.e., AM or FM) may not seek to remove the “-TV” suffix but may change to the “-DT” suffix.  See 47 
C.F.R. § 73.3550(h).
4 See 47 C.F.R. § 73.1201.
2
call sign does not require a suffix since it is not in use by another station, they may request that four-letter 
call sign without a suffix. 
For more information, contact the Media Bureau’s Video Division:  Jim Brown, 
Jim.Brown@fcc.gov at (202) 418-1600.  TTY:  (202) 418-7172.
--FCC--