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The FCC today released its further Public Notice in connection with FCC Auction No. 93, which offers for sale 119 construction permits for new FM radio stations in various communities across the country.  Further details about the auction can be found in our earlier post here as well as on the Commission's auction page here.  In all, 145 applicants filed the necessary short-form application expressing an interest in participating in the auction, although two of the applications were outright rejected as unacceptable.  Even though there are fewer permits available in this auction than in last year's Auction No. 91 (119 rather than last year's 144), interest in the auction appears to be strong as nearly the same number of applications were filed for this year's auction as for the last.  Of the 145 applications filed, 111 were listed as "complete" and 32 were designated as "incomplete", meaning that the FCC is requesting more information from those folks.  Those applicants will need to amend their applications prior to 6 PM ET on February 22nd in order to be eligible to participate in the auction. 

The next step in the auction process is for applicants to make an upfront payment by wire transfer to the FCC's bank before 6 PM East Coast Time on Wednesday, February 22nd. Only those applicants whose short-form applications are accepted as "complete" and have ponied up enough money to cover the minimum opening bid for at least one of the permits they have specified an interest in on their forms will actually be qualified to bid in the auction, which will begin on March 27th.  As always, the FCC advises applicants to make their wire transfer early to make sure that it is properly received rather than waiting for the last day.  Approximately two weeks before the start of the auction, the FCC will issue a subsequent public notice listing the qualified bidders and the amount of money they have put on deposit with the Commission.  The FCC will also conduct a Mock Auction on March 23rd so that applicants can familiarize themselves with the auction software and bidding process in advance of the actual auction on March 27th.  today's Public Notice also notes that the prohibition on communicating with competing applicants is now in effect. So applicants are prohibited from talking to other applicants about bids, bidding strategies, post-market structure, etc., unless they've indicated that the bidders have entered into a joint bidding agreement. 

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The Commission today released its further Public Notice establishing the filing dates and adopting the procedures for the upcoming auction of 119 New FM Radio channels, scheduled to start on March 27, 2012.  The auction has been designated as FM Auction No. 93 and offers vacant FM allotments in various communities across the country.  Although the Commission removed four allotments from the slate of available channels, the remaining 119 channels are up for grabs.  A full list of the licenses available in the auction can be found here.  Anyone potentially interested in bidding on these new FM stations should start doing their due diligence now (and see our earlier posting for tips about specific issues to consider). 

The auction process will start with a filing window from January 3 to January 12, 2012 for the submission of an FCC Form 175 "short form" application expressing interest in the auction.  All potential bidders must submit a Form 175 by 6:00 PM ET on January 12, 2012 in order to be eligible to bid.  Next, applicants will need to make an Upfront Payment by 6:00 PM ET on February 22, 2012, in order to deposit funds with the Commission equal to the starting price for at least one of the licenses for which they are interested in bidding.  In order to be eligible to participate in the auction, bidders will need to follow both steps and timely file an acceptable short form application and wire a sufficient upfront payment.  The FCC will hold a Mock Auction on March 23, 2012 to allow bidders to test the bidding software and familiarize themselves with the auction process, and the real auction will kick off on Tuesday, March 27, 2012. 

In connection with Auction 93, the FCC will temporarily freeze the submission of all minor change applications for both commercial and noncommercial FM stations from January 3 through January 12, 2012.  This freeze will prevent existing stations from filing minor modification applications that might be mutually exclusive with the preferred allotment site coordinates that a potential bidder might specify on its short form application.  Licensees of existing stations should plan accordingly and file any minor modifications before January 3rd lest they have to wait until the freeze is lifted following the close of the Auction filing window on January 12.

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As part of its efforts to diversify the ownership of the broadcast media, the FCC promised in its recent order on Localism in the media (see our summary here) to have its engineering staff come up with a computer program to help people determine where a new FM station can be allotted by the FCC, opening the process that will result in an auction to determine who gets a construction permit to build that station.  Today, the Commission's staff released a public notice announcing that this new program is now on-line, and that interested people can see where a new FM station will "fit" consistent with all FCC rules that require that certain spacings be maintained between stations on the same or adjacent channels to avoid interference.  The program for determining whether new allotments can be made is available here.  All you need to do is provide geographic coordinates for a potential station, and the Commission's new program will tell you if a new FM station could work there.

As the Commission notes in its Public Notice, the tool will only locate Class A FM stations - the lowest power station - limited to 6 kw of effective radiated power at 100 meters tower height - giving a station a protected coverage radius of approximately 15 miles (though actual coverage may differ depending on factors including terrain and the proximity of other stations).  Also note that simply finding an empty channel does not get you a station.  Instead, a party who finds a channel in an area that they would like to serve must then petition the FCC to "allot" the channel to a specific community that they want to serve.  That proposal is processed by the FCC's staff and, if acceptable, placed on public notice when other parties can comment on the proposal or file counterproposals suggesting the use of the frequency at some other location.  Once the Commission reviews any comments, they will decide whether to allot the channel.  If and when an allotment is made, it still isn't ready for application.  Instead, the FCC saves new allotments and periodically puts out lists of these new allotments available for application - a "window" notice as a precursor to a possible auction.  Interested parties can then file with the FCC indicating interest in the channel and, if more than one person expresses interest in the channel (which virtually always happens), the channel will be auctioned to the highest bidder (though new entrants do get some bidding credits).  All told, the process can take several years from the discovery of the available channel to the award of the construction permit.  But, while the process may not be fast, this new tool provided by the Commission has made it somewhat easier.

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In a very unusual process - one that is probably unprecedented - the FCC last week announced that it is opening a window for parties to file applications for a new AM station to serve Rockland County, New York.  AM stations are traditionally made available for filing on an on-demand basis - when the FCC accepts applications for new stations, parties can file in any location in the country, specifying any city of license that they select, as long as the station that they propose will not create interference to existing stations.  This is unlike FM and TV, where there is a two step process - new channels are first allotted at specific locations based on a party's request, but that party gets no rights to the channel.  Instead, after the allotment has been made, anyone can file for in a specified window seeking a construction permit to build the new station.  In this window, the FCC has adopted a unique process for an AM stations, a process much more like that used in FM and TV.  The Commission had been asked by a party for permission to operate a new station in Rockland County.  Instead of simply permitting that party to build a station without competition, the FCC decided that a new station was necessary to provide emergency information about the nuclear power plant in the Rockland area, but determined that anyone could file for that channel.  Applications for the channel (1700 AM - on the expanded band, for which there have been no applications for almost 10 years since the first set of expressions of interest were taken), will be accepted from October 1 through October 5.

In order to give parties the ability to prepare applications, the FCC is imposing a freeze on the filing of minor change applications for AM stations throughout the country during the filing window.  Any minor change application that is filed during the window will be returned.  So if you are planning an application for a technical change to your AM station, you need to plan to avoid that filing window.

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