[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 50 (Monday, March 16, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13542-13543]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-05975]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[DA 15-116]


Media Bureau Designates May 29, 2015 as Pre-Auction Licensing 
Deadline; May 29, 2015 Deadline Also Applicable to Class A Television 
Stations Converting to Digital

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This document announces that May 29, 2015 has been established 
as the Pre-Auction Licensing Deadline. This is the date by which full 
power and Class A facilities must be licensed or have on file with the 
Commission a license to cover application in order to be protected in 
the repacking process or be eligible for voluntary relinquishment of 
spectrum usage rights as part of the television incentive auction.

DATES: The Pre-Auction Licensing Deadline for all full power and Class 
A television facilities is May 29, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kevin Harding or Evan Morris, Video 
Division, Media Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, (202) 418-
1600.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Media Bureau has designated May 29, 
2015, as the Pre-Auction Licensing Deadline by which full power and 
Class A facilities must be licensed in order to be eligible for 
protection in the repacking process that will be part of the television 
incentive auction. The Pre-Auction Licensing Deadline will also 
determine which facilities are eligible for voluntary relinquishment of 
spectrum usage rights in the incentive auction. The term ``licensed'' 
encompasses both licensed facilities and those subject to a pending 
license to cover application (i.e., FCC Form 302-DTV or 302-CA).
    In the Incentive Auction R&O, the Commission concluded that all 
full power and Class A facilities that were licensed as of February 22, 
2012, are entitled to mandatory protection. The Commission also 
concluded that the public interest would be served by extending 
discretionary protection to certain categories of facilities that were 
not licensed as of February 22, 2012; however, with limited exception, 
it required that these facilities be licensed by the Pre-Auction 
Licensing Deadline. See Expanding the Economic and Innovation 
Opportunities of Spectrum Through Incentive Auctions, GN Docket No. 12-
268, Report and Order, 29 FCC Rcd 6567 (2014) (Incentive Auction R&O). 
Although some of the facilities that are subject to discretionary 
protection have already been licensed, there are still authorized 
facilities in the following categories that remain unlicensed at this 
time including: (1) Full power facilities authorized in outstanding 
construction permits issued to effectuate a channel substitution for a 
licensed station. This includes construction permits for stations 
seeking to relocate from channel 51 pursuant to voluntary relocation 
agreements with Lower 700 MHz A Block licensees; (2) Modified 
facilities of full power and Class A stations that were authorized by 
construction permits granted on or before April 5, 2013, the date of 
the Media Bureau's Freeze PN, Media Bureau Announces Limitations on the 
Filing and Processing of Full Power and Class A Television Station 
Modification Applications, Effective Immediately, and Reminds Stations 
of Spectrum Act Preservation Mandate, Public Notice, 28 FCC Rcd 4364 
(2013)(Freeze PN), or that have been authorized by construction permits 
that were granted after April 5, 2013 and are in compliance with the 
Freeze PN; and (3) Class A stations' initial digital facilities that 
were not initially licensed until after February 22, 2012, including 
those that were not authorized until after the Freeze PN. See Incentive 
Auction R&O, 29 FCC Rcd at 6657-65, paras 198-218.
    Accordingly, all facilities in these discretionary protection 
categories, with limited exception for stations affected by the 
destruction of the World Trade Center, must be licensed or have an 
application for a license to cover the construction permit on file by 
May 29, 2015, in order for these facilities to be protected in the 
repacking process. Licensees affected by the destruction of the World 
Trade Center may elect to protect either their licensed Empire State 
Building facility or a proposed new facility at One World Trade Center 
so long as that new facility has been applied for and authorized in a 
construction permit granted by the Pre-Auction Licensing Deadline. See 
Incentive Auction R&O, 29 FCC Rcd at 6665-66, paras 219-220. Licensees 
must file a letter with the Commission making their election no later 
than May 29, 2015. A copy of the letter should also be emailed to Kevin 
Harding, Associate Division Chief, Video Division, Media Bureau at 
[email protected].
    Furthermore, this constitutes notice of the last opportunity before 
the Pre-Auction Licensing Deadline for all full power and Class A 
licensees to modify their licenses to fix errors they have made in 
providing us their operating parameters and to have those modifications 
protected in the repacking process. Such modifications will be 
protected so long as a modification application that complies with the 
Freeze PN is filed and granted, and a license to cover application is 
filed, by May 29, 2015. The Media Bureau will release a subsequent 
Public Notice listing the facilities licensed by the Pre-Auction 
Deadline, as reflected in the Commission's records, and thereby 
eligible for protection in repacking or relinquishment in the incentive 
auction. Licensees will be required to certify in a Pre-Auction 
Technical Certification Form (FCC Form 2100, Schedule 381) that they 
have reviewed their authorization and underlying database technical 
information for their eligible facility, and to confirm that all 
information is correct with respect to actual operations or identify 
any discrepancies. See 79 FR 72000 (Dec. 4, 2014).
    We also emphasize that, in order for a Class A digital facility to 
be afforded protection in the repacking process, it must be licensed by 
the Pre-Auction Licensing Deadline. While Class A licensees may wait 
until the September 1, 2015, digital transition deadline to complete 
construction and license their digital facilities, Amendment of Parts 
73 and 74 of the Commission's Rules to Establish Rules for Digital Low 
Power Television, Television Translator, and Television Booster 
Stations and to Amend Rules for Digital Class A Television Stations, MB 
Docket No. 03-185, Second Report and Order, 26 FCC Rcd 10732, 10753-54, 
para. 45 (2011)(LPTV DTV Second R&O), those that do not have their 
digital facilities licensed by May 29, 2015, will be afforded 
protection based only on the coverage area and population served by 
their analog facilities. The Commission also clarified that it was not 
modifying the Class A digital transition deadline. See Incentive 
Auction R&O, 29 FCC Rcd at 6664-65, para. 218 and n. 688. Class A 
licensees may still seek a one extension of time to complete their 
digital transition facilities by submitting an application for 
extension of construction permit by May 1, 2015. See LPTV DTV Second 
R&O, 26 FCC Rcd at

[[Page 13543]]

10740, para. 15; see also 47 CFR 74.788(c). Nonetheless, the filing or 
grant of an extension application does not relieve Class A stations of 
the requirement that they license their digital facilities by the Pre-
Auction Licensing Deadline in order for those facilities to be eligible 
for protection.
    This action is taken by the Media Bureau pursuant to authority 
delegated by 47 CFR 0.283 of the Commission's rules.

Federal Communications Commission.
Kevin Harding,
Associate Chief, Video Division, Media Bureau.
[FR Doc. 2015-05975 Filed 3-13-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6712-01-P