NEWSReport No. MM 95-47 MASS MEDIA ACTION June 15, 1995 COMMISSION ACTS ON PETITIONS FOR RECONSIDERATION OF 728 PREVIOUSLY RETURNED MDS APPLICATIONS By 22 separate orders, the Commission has disposed of petitions for reconsideration of the return of 728 applications for new Multipoint Distribution Service (MDS) stations. This action reduces the number of MDS petitions for reconsideration pending since June 1994 from 5523 to 207, a 96 percent reduction. Because the petitions raise common issues, the Commission said that considering them in groups was the most efficient way to deal with them. The applications were filed between May 18, 1990, and April 9, 1992. MDS is a service which uses microwave signals to deliver video programs to subscribers. The applications were returned as unacceptable for filing for a variety of reasons, including: (1) the application was untimely filed; (2) the application was filed past the relevant cut-off date; and (3) the application was filed within the geographic area of another MDS applicant or authorized station and failed to demonstrate a lack of harmful interference to that station. On reconsideration, the Commission said the petitioners had not made a persuasive showing warranting reinstatement of their applications. It noted that 200 of the petitions for reconsideration were late-filed and petitioners offered no acceptable reason for their untimeliness. Moreover, each returned application was, as filed, mutually exclusive with and cut-off by either an existing MDS station or a previously filed application, or was otherwise unacceptable for filing. Action by the Commission June 15, 1995, by Memorandum Opinion and Orders (FCC 95-232-253). Chairman Hundt, Commissioners Quello, Barrett, Ness and Chong. - FCC - News Media contacts: Audrey Spivack and Rosemary Kimball at (202) 418-0500. Mass Media Bureau contacts: Charles Dziedzic at (202) 418-1604 and Jeanine Poltronieri at (202) 416-0990.