Auction 88: Closed Broadcast

Auction 88 was going to include thirteen FM construction permits. For two of the construction permits, only one of the eligible parties submitted a short-form application (FCC Form 175). Consequently, mutual exclusivity did not exist for auction purposes, and the following construction permits were removed from the auction: MM-FM749-286A (Oxford, MS) and MM-FM755-225A (New Holstein, WI) . (See Public Notice DA 10-1009 (pdf)).

Auction 88 will include construction permits for eleven commercial FM stations, one commercial FM translator station, and one commercial AM station. The construction permits for the FM and FM translator stations in this auction are the subject of pending, closed groups of mutually exclusive applications. Auction 88 will also resolve mutual exclusivity between applications for a new AM station on 640 kHz in the Terre Haute, Indiana, area. This is a closed auction; participation in this auction is limited to the applicants identified in Attachment A (pdf) of the Auction 88 Procedures Public Notice (DA 10-524) (pdf) which was released on March 31, 2010. All applications within a mutually exclusive applicant group (“MX Group”) are directly mutually exclusive with one another, and therefore a single construction permit will be auctioned for each MX Group. Applicants will be eligible to bid on only those construction permits specified for that applicant in Attachment A to the Procedures Public Notice, DA 10-524.

A complete list of construction permits and eligible applicants for Auction 88 is provided in Attachment A (pdf) of the Applications to Participate Public Notice, DA 10-1009 (pdf).

A winning bidder will be awarded a construction permit, rather than a “license.” Each construction permit for the construction of a new AM, FM or FM translator station specifies a period of three years within which construction must be completed and a license application filed. See 47 C.F.R. § 73.3598. Radio station licenses are issued for eight year terms.

A New Entrant Bidding Credit will be available for this auction. Eligibility and application requirements for the New Entrant Bidding Credit are specified in Public Notice DA 10-524. 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 applicant 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, as defined in 47 C.F.R. § 73.5008;
• 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, as defined in 47 C.F.R. § 73.5008;
• No bidding credit will be given if any of the commonly owned mass media facilities serve the same area as the broadcast station proposed in the auction, as defined in 47 C.F.R. § 73.5007(b), 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.

Applicants 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 (see “Key Dates”). Events occurring after the short-form application filing deadline, such as the acquisition of attributable interests in media of mass communications, may cause diminishment or loss of the bidding credit.

47 C.F.R. Part 73.