|
At
its November 3, 2006 meeting the FCC adopted new rules
allowing commercial AM and FM stations and
non-commercial FM stations to change their respective
communities of license by application. This will bypass
the need to file a Petition for Rule Making to amend the
Table of Allotments, followed by the submission of an
application for permit. All that will now be needed is
an application for minor change. Even though the full
text of the rules has not yet been released, here are
the highlights, based on the meeting and subsequently
issued public notice:
AM
and FM (commercial and non-commercial) may change
community of license by application (first come, first
served). The filing of the application requires the
applicant (licensee) to publish an announcement of the
filing in a newspaper in both the present city of
license and the new city. Further, the FCC will publish
the filing in the Federal Register and will take no
action on the application for at least 60 days following
register publication.
New
petitions to allot a channel must be accompanied by a
Form 301 application and the associated filing fee.
Rule making requests can now be electronically filed.
There are no limits on the number of channel change
requests considered in a single rule making. It is
not clear how the new rules will impact the number of
contingent applications that can be submitted (presently
four is the procedural limit).
The
new rules will take effect 30 days after publication in
the Federal Register. The publication process generally
takes two weeks or so from the issuance of the order. It
is also necessary for the Commission to alter FCC Forms
301 and 340, which might delay the effective date. As
such, look for the new rules to become effective
sometime in January 2007. |
