Dark (broadcasting)

In the broadcasting industry, a dark television or silent radio station is one that has gone off-the-air for an indefinite period of time. Unlike dead air (broadcasting only silence), a station that is dark or silent does not even transmit a carrier signal.

According to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a radio or television station is considered to have gone dark or silent if it is to be off the air for 30 days or longer. Prior to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, a "dark" station was required to surrender its broadcast license to the FCC, leaving it vulnerable to another party applying for it while its current owner was making efforts to get it back on the air. Following the 1996 landmark legislation, a licensee is no longer required to surrender the license while dark. Instead, the licensee may apply for a "Notification of Suspension of Operations/Request for Silent STA" (FCC Form 0386), stating the reason why the station has gone silent.

A service can go dark for any number of reasons, including financial resources being drained to continue effective operation of the service as being of benefit to its community of license; abandonment for a different channel or to go cable-only; complicated technical adjustments involving radio antenna repair, requiring the broadcast tower to be de-energized for the work to be done; structure fire or natural disaster that has rendered the facility inoperable; or technical adjustments that would make it prohibitively expensive to perform the work and carry on the normal operations of the station in question.

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