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The FCC released the Report and
Order in MB Docket #05-210, the change of city of
license rules by application, after its November 3rd
meeting. The broadcasting community patiently waited for
the formal rules to be released, and they were finally
issued November 29th. Once implemented, the rules will
allow commercial and non-commercial AM and FM stations
to change their communities of license by minor change
application, protected from later filed applications.
The new rules still limit contingent applications filed
by other parties to no more than four. As such, up to
four existing stations can propose a series of community
changes together. If a change to a vacant allotment,
site, or channel is needed to accommodate one or more of
these city changes, it must be proposed in a rule
making, which will not be counted toward the total
number of contingent applications.
Applicants proposing community of license changes must
submit the same material previously filed with petitions
for city of license changes, including data regarding
the new community, Tuck analyses where needed, gain/loss
studies, plus the data normally filed with an
application for construction permit. The FCC will also
collect the normal fee for a minor change plus the rule
making fee when the application is filed. The filings
will also require publication in the newspaper in the
station’s present city of license and in the new city.
Changes of city of license still require a fully
compliant allocation reference site and the ability to
place a city grade signal over the entire new community.
Therefore, stations authorized under §73.215 of the
rules that have no fully compliant site will not be able
to change their city of license. Grandfathered
shortspaced stations can still change city, provided
there is no increased shortspacing, but they will be
required to seek a waiver of the allocation site rules.
To date, there is limited
procedural guidance on how the new rules will function
in practice, although there has been some discussion on
a forthcoming questions and answers public notice to be
issued by the FCC staff. The rules will go into effect
thirty days after publication of the order in the
Federal Register. Therefore, we tentatively expect this
in mid-January 2007, although this date may be delayed
since the FCC Form 301 and 340 applications must be
changed to allow for the implementation of the new
filing rules. Stay tuned! |
