Broadcast Auctions

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The dates and minimum bids are set – and the next auction for new FM stations is a go for September 1, 2009. Applications to participate in the auction are due during the period June 16 to June 25, and must be filed electronically at the FCC, specifying on which of the 122 available channels an applicant is interested in bidding. Full, detailed auction instructions can be found in the FCC’s Public Notice, and the list of available channels and the minimum bids for each is available here. To give time for applicants to prepare their applications, the Commission has also initiated a variety of freezes on the filing of certain FM applications.

A freeze on any application or Petition for Rulemaking seeking a change in the channel of any channel proposed for use in this auction has been imposed effective immediately. Applications that shortspace any of the reference points for any of these stations are also barred. A subsequent freeze on the filing of any minor change application by an FM licensee will also be imposed during the June window. These freezes are to give applicants for channels the opportunity to evaluate which channels are worth bidding for, and to specify specific transmitter sites for certain channels (different than the reference coordinates) which will be protected during the auction process. Thus, applicants who see the potential for an increase in value of one of these channels that may come through the location of the station at a particular transmitter site can specify that site, protecting it and the value that they see. Continue Reading Rules for September Auction for New FM Stations Set – Application Filing Deadline Is June 25

The FCC has released a public notice asking for comment on the procedures that it plans to use for a new FM auction now scheduled to be held in September.  The channels to be included in that auction, and the proposed minimum bids for those channels, can be found on a list released by the Commission, here.  Parties who are interested in bidding for any of these channels will be able to submit short form applications indicating the channels in which they are interested at some point to be determined in the future – probably late Spring or early Summer, so that the FCC can process those applications and receive the necessary upfront payments from parties interested in the auction in time for the auction itself to begin in September.  Thus, parties who are interested in any of these channels should start their due diligence process now, and determine which channels may be of interest, and which channels can actually be built in such a way as to cover areas that an applicant may want to serve, so that they can be ready to file their applications, probably in May or June.

Applications, when filed, will not need to specify a specific transmitter site but, once the auction is over, winning bidders will need to quickly identify and file complete applications containing specific transmitter sites for which they have reasonable assurance.  Thus, they should begin preparations for the auction now.  Applicants who have identified a site can specify that site in their applications to protect it from subsequent applications.  Thus, FM broadcasters should also anticipate a freeze on the filing of any FM technical applications at some point in late Spring in anticipation of the auction, in order to give applicants a stable technical situation so that they can identify usable transmitter sites. Continue Reading FCC to Hold Auction for New FM Stations in September

On Friday, the FCC announced that it will auction 9 new FM channels on January 10.  These are channels that went unpurchased in prior FM auctions – either because no one bid on the channels or because the winning bidder defaulted on its winning bid (presumably by not paying for the channel when the full payment was due). 

The channels are for new stations at the following locations:  Covelo and Tecopa, California; Cedar Key and Perry, Florida; Kihei, Hawaii; Outlook, Montana; Ocracoke, North Carolina; Meyersdale, Pennsylvania; and Parowan, Utah.  The FCC proposed rules for the auction, here, and set out the amounts of minimum bids that it expects to collect for each of these channels, here.  The exact date for the filing of the initial short form applications and the posting of the minimum bids will be announced after the final rules for the auction are adopted.  Comments on the Proposed Rules and the minimum bids are due on September 6.

Perhaps most interesting is the fact that the FCC has chosen to open only this mini-window at this time.  In each of the last two years, at about this time of year, the FCC has announced the opening of auction windows for large numbers of FM stations.  Hundreds of stations have been auctioned in these last two years.  The FCC has hundreds of FM allotments around the country that already been made but which have never been available for applications.  These will be apparently be subject to auction at some later date.Continue Reading New Radio Channels to Be Auctionned By FCC