New Noncommercial Educational Stations and New NCE Filing Window on the Way
With little discussion, the FCC today adopted an Order granting 76 construction permits for new noncommercial educational ("NCE") FM stations or for major changes to existing stations. This action is the result of 200 or so applications for new NCE stations or major changes to existing NCE stations that were processed using the Commission's noncommercial comparative point system to resolve issues of mutual exclusivity. The 200 or so applications formed 76 groups of mutually exclusive applications, and today's decision selects a winning applicant from each of the 76 mutually exclusive groups. It's not clear which applicants had the superior applications, or when those new construction permits will be issued to the winning applicant, but further details will be forthcoming once the Order is released.
As important, however, was the announcement that the FCC will open a filing window for new noncommercial stations in the Fall of this year. Again, little detail was provided at today's meeting other than to indicate that an NCE filing window would be opening later this year. A copy of the FCC's new release is available here. We will keep you posted once details become available.
