Auction 85: LPTV And TV Translator Digital Companion Channels

Auction 85 will offer 43* construction permits for specified LPTV, including Class A TV, and TV Translator digital companion channels. The construction permits to be auctioned are the subject of pending, mutually exclusive applications for the referenced broadcast services for which the Commission has not approved settlement agreements, dismissal requests or engineering amendments. Participation in this auction will be limited to those applicants for construction permits identified in Attachment A of Public Notice DA 08-1944 (pdf) (released September 2, 2008). Applicants will be eligible to bid only on the corresponding construction permits listed in Attachment A.

A complete list of construction permits for Auction 85 and their descriptions is provided in Attachment A of Public Notice DA 08-1944 (pdf).

A winning bidder, if its long-form application is granted, is awarded a construction permit, rather than a "license." A winning bidder is required, within 36 months to construct its facility and file an application for a "license to cover construction permits" to obtain a license for the constructed facility. (See 47 C.F.R. § 73.3598.) Initial licenses will be issued for a period running until the expiration date specified in section 73.1020 of the Commission rules for the state in which the proposal is located.

A New Entrant Bidding Credit will be available for this auction. Eligibility and application requirements for New Entrant Bidding Credit are specified in Public Notice DA 06-874 (pdf). Applicants that qualify for the New Entrant Bidding Credit are eligible for a bidding credit that represents the amount by which a bidder's winning bid is discounted. The size of a New Entrant Bidding Credit depends on the number of ownership interests in other "media of mass communications" that are attributable to the bidder-entity and its attributable interest-holders:

• A 35 percent bidding credit will be given to a winning bidder if it, and/or any individual or entity with an attributable interest in the winning bidder, has no attributable interest in any other media of mass communications;
• A 25 percent bidding credit will be given to a winning bidder if it, and/or any individual or entity with an attributable interest in the winning bidder, has an attributable interest in no more than three mass media facilities;
• No bidding credit will be given if any of the commonly owned mass media facilities serve the same area as the proposed broadcast station, or if the winning bidder, and/or any individual or entity with an attributable interest in the winning bidder, has attributable interests in more than three mass media facilities;

Attributable interests held by a winning bidder in existing low power television, television translator or FM translator facilities will not be counted among the winning bidder's "other mass media interests" in determining eligibility for a bidding credit.

Bidders intending to divest a media interest or make any other ownership changes, such as resignation of positional interests, in order to avoid attribution for purposes of qualifying for the New Entrant Bidding Credit must have consummated such divestment transactions or have completed such ownership changes by no later than the short-form application filing deadline, June 30, 2006.

47 C.F.R. Parts 73 and 74.