[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 81 (Thursday, April 28, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22042-22043]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-8599]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[Report No. AUC-05-81-D (Auction No. 81); DA 05-1048]


Low Power Television Auction No. 81 Scheduled for September 14, 
2005, Auction Inventory Revised, Applicants Proposing ``Non-Commercial 
Educational Broadcast Station'' Must Respond by May 13, 2005

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Media Bureau set 
forth a revised list of construction permits for certain low power 
television (``LPTV''), television translator and Class A television 
broadcast stations available for auction in Auction No. 81.

DATE: Applicants seeking designation as a noncommercial educational 
(``NCE'') station applicant must submit specified information to the 
Commission no later than May 13, 2005.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For auction questions: Lynne Milne, 
Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Auctions and Spectrum Access 
Division at (202) 418-0660. For questions on auction inventory or NCE 
status: Shaun Maher or Hossein Hasemzadeh, Media Bureau, Video Division 
at (202) 418-1600.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Low Power 
Television Auction No. 81 Scheduled for September 14, 2005, Auction 
Inventory Revised, Application Proposing ``Non-Commercial Educational 
Broadcast Station'' Must Respond By May 13, 2005 Public Notice (``LPTV 
Revised Inventory Public Notice''), released on April 13, 2005. The 
complete text of the LPTV Revised Inventory Public Notice, including 
attachments that describe the changes to the Auction No. 81 inventory, 
and related Commission documents, is available for public inspection 
and copying from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday or from 8 
a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Friday at the FCC Reference Information Center, 
Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY-A257, Washington, DC 20554. 
The LPTV Revised Inventory Public Notice and related Commission 
documents may also be purchased from the Commission's duplicating 
contractor, Best Copy and Printing, Inc. (``BCPI''), Portals II, 445 
12th Street, SW., Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 20554, telephone (202) 
488-5300, facsimile (202) 488-5563, or you may contact BCPI at its Web 
site: http://www.BCPIWEB.com. When ordering documents from BCPI, please 
provide the appropriate FCC document number (for example, DA 05-1048). 
The LPTV Revised Inventory Public Notice and related documents are also 
available on the Internet at the Commission's Web site: http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/81/.

I. Bidders Claiming Status Under 47 U.S.C. 309(j)(2) Exemption for 
``Noncommercial Educational Broadcast Stations'' Must Respond by May 
13, 2005

    1. Applications for construction permits for noncommercial 
educational broadcast stations (``NCE stations'') are exempt from 
competitive bidding by 47 U.S.C. 309(j)(2)(C). For purposes of Auction 
No. 81, this exemption applies to a proposal for a new LPTV, television 
translator or Class A television broadcast station that is owned and 
operated by a municipality and which transmits only noncommercial 
programs for educational purposes. See 47 U.S.C. 397(6)(B). In the NCE 
Second Report and Order, 68 FR 26220-26222, May 15, 2003, the 
Commission held that LPTV and television translator facilities qualify 
as NCE stations under 47 U.S.C. 397(6)(B), only if they are owned and 
operated by municipalities and transmit only NCE programs. Applications 
for such NCE stations are exempt from auction.
    2. In the same order, the Commission also stated that proposals for 
NCE stations may be submitted for non-reserved spectrum in a filing 
window, subject to being returned as unacceptable for filing if there 
is any mutually exclusive application for a commercial station. 
Accordingly, the Commission will provide applicants in Auction No. 81 
with an opportunity to designate their status as an NCE station 
applicant under the definition set forth in 47 U.S.C. 397(6)(B). 
Applicants must understand that if they make such a claim and one or 
more of the NCE applicant's engineering proposals is determined to be 
mutually exclusive with one or more engineering proposals filed by an 
applicant for a commercial station, the NCE station engineering 
proposal(s) will be returned as unacceptable for filing.
    3. To claim status as an NCE applicant, an applicant for Auction 
No. 81 must submit an amendment to its short-form application (FCC Form 
175) in the form of a written statement filed in an e-mail sent to 
[email protected] or by facsimile to Kathryn Garland at (717) 338-2850. 
The written statement must declare the applicant's claim that it 
qualifies as a municipality under the

[[Page 22043]]

definition set forth in 47 U.S.C. 397(6)(B). Specifically, the 
applicant must state that it is: (1) Proposing to construct and operate 
a noncommercial educational station; (2) it is a municipality, and (3) 
it intends to transmit only noncommercial programs for educational 
purposes. Applicants seeking designation as an NCE station applicant 
must submit this specified information to the Commission no later than 
May 13, 2005.

II. Dismissal of Engineering Proposals for Failure To Submit FRN

    4. The LPTV Revised Inventory Public Notice lists the engineering 
proposals that will no longer be included in Auction No. 81 as a result 
of the applicant's failure to submit the requested FCC Registration 
Number (FRN). The engineering proposals listed in Attachment B were 
dismissed on April 13, 2005 for failure to submit an FRN pursuant to 
authority delegated in 47 CFR 0.283 and 0.331. A listing of the 
dismissed engineering proposals is provided in Attachment B to the LPTV 
Revised Inventory Public Notice.

III. Revised Inventory

    5. The LPTV Revised Inventory Public Notice corrects and replaces 
the list of available construction permits released as Attachment A to 
the Auction No. 81 Comment Public Notice, 70 FR 11975, March 10, 2005. 
Due to the dismissal of some engineering proposals for failure to 
submit an FRN, some engineering proposals became a singleton, an 
engineering proposal that is not mutually-exclusive with any other 
engineering proposal, and were removed from the auction inventory. The 
removal of engineering proposals in some cases resulted in the removal 
of entire mutually exclusive (MX) groups from the auction inventory. 
Upon reexamination, we also removed from the auction inventory some MX 
groups which consisted of ``daisy chain'' engineering proposals. In 
addition, we removed from the auction inventory some engineering 
proposals previously identified as singletons.
    6. Participation in Auction No. 81 will be limited to those 
applicants and mutually-exclusive (MX) engineering proposals that are 
identified in the revised Attachment A. Qualified applicants will be 
eligible to bid only on those construction permits for which the 
applicant's engineering proposal is specified in the particular MX 
group as identified in the revised Attachment A to the LPTV Revised 
Inventory Public Notice.

IV. Retention of MX Group 56 in Auction

    7. In response to the Auction No. 81 Comment Public Notice, a 
licensee requested that MX group 56 be removed from the auction. For 
the reasons explained in the LPTV Revised Inventory Public Notice, the 
Commission declines to remove MX group 56 from Auction No. 81.

Federal Communications Commission.
Gary Michaels,
Deputy Chief, Auctions and Spectrum Access Division, WTB.
[FR Doc. 05-8599 Filed 4-27-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P