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In May, the FCC announced that it would be conducting an auction in February 2027 for construction permits to build over 130 new FM stations in various locations around the country (see our article here). Last week, the FCC issued a Public Notice that provided the remaining details about the auction, including a September filing window for “short-form” applications to participate in the auction, the December 3 deadline for submitting “upfront payments,” and a detailed discussion of the rules for participating in the auction.  An attachment to that Public Notice provides the final list of available channels and their minimum bids.  In addition, the FCC issued a second Public Notice that announced that there will be a filing freeze on minor change applications for any FM station during the short-form filing window to avoid possible conflicts between sites specified by auction applicants and those specified in the minor change application of previously authorized FM stations.

In connection with the auction, the FCC will also hold tutorials and a mock auction to ensure that bidders know the process for filing applications and for participating in the auction.  Even if you have participated in FM auctions in the past, you may want to monitor these tutorials and mock auctions because the auction procedures have changed, as discussed below.

The dates and deadlines for the auction are as follows:

  • Auction Application Tutorial Available (via Internet) (August 21, 2026)
  • Short-Form Application (FCC Form 175) Filing Window Opens (September 14, 2026, 12:00 p.m. ET)
  • Short-Form Application (FCC Form 175) Filing Deadline (September 30, 2026, 6:00 p.m. ET)
  • Upfront Payments (via wire transfer) (December 3, 2026, 6:00 p.m. ET)
  • Bidding Tutorial Available (via Internet) (January 6, 2027)
  • Mock Auction (January 29, 2027)
  • Auction Bidding Begins (February 2, 2027)

The short-form applications are the first step in participating in the auction.  Anyone who wants to participate in the auction must file one of these applications in the window set out above – with the deadline being September 30 at 6 p.m. Eastern Time. As with any other FCC filing, do not wait until the last minute to file, as the FCC’s electronic filing system has been known to have slowdowns and glitches, and not getting the short-form application on file by the deadline is fatal to any hopes of participating in the auction.

Continue Reading Applications to Participate in February Auction for 132 New FM Stations Due by September 30 – FCC Releases Auction Rules and Procedures
  • The FCC’s Order adopted in June that requires broadcasters to quickly adopt new security practices to protect their EAS systems
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  • The FCC announced that it will hold Auction 114, beginning on February 2, 2027, making available 132 channels on which
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The FCC this week proposed an auction for the rights to construct new FM stations on 132 FM channels – the first such auction of new FM stations since 2021.  The auction is proposed for February 2027, although interested parties will need to submit “short form” applications to participate in the auction at some point prior to that date.  The proposed procedures for the auction are set out in a Public Notice – and those procedures contain new wrinkles from those of past FM auctions. The list of available channels is in a separate document here,  That document also lists the proposed minimum bids for those channels.  The FCC also issued a Press Release about the auction and a Public Notice announcing an immediate freeze on any application or rulemaking petition that would affect any of the channels listed in the auction notice.

The channels available to be auctioned comprise a mix of channels available in previous auctions that were not sold in those auctions, plus new channels that have been allotted since the last auction, and a few channels where active licenses for operating stations had been cancelled.  Following the last auction, we wrote about the number of channels that had gone unsold, and suggested that the high minimum bids might have been one reason that some channels did not sell in that auction. The Commission seemed to take the same message from the number of unsold channels in the last auction, as the opening bids in this auction are substantially lower for some of the holdover channels.

Continue Reading FCC Proposes Auction for New FM Stations – 132 Channels to be Available in February 2027 Auction
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Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.

  • On October 17, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) introduced the Identifying Propaganda

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