In December 2015, the Federal Telecommunications Institute opened a public comment period on public guidelines for the assignment of virtual channels, and on June 17, 2016, the IFT officially released the final version of the guidelines. The plan called for standardization of virtual channels according to network, not former analog position, with automatic assignment based on the programming information on file with the IFT; it also set a date of October 27 for a coordinated switch of all virtual channels. In early September, a full list of virtual channel assignments was released.