FCC to Crackdown on Dark Stations

Apparently, Barbara Kreisman, chief of the Federal Communications Commission's Video Services Division of the Media Bureau, said the agency will be less likely to grant extensions allowing television broadcasters to hang on to licenses for stations that are not on the air.

Licensees who are not prepared to be "full-time broadcasters" should get out of the business, she said. Kreisman also warned that the agency will be cracking down on Class A low-power stations that fail to meet their obligation to air at least three hours of children's programming each week. Such stations, she said, risk losing their Class A status and the "extraordinary benefits" that come with it.