With Auction 79 fast approaching, the Commission has frozen, effective immediately (i.e., as of April 17, 2009): (a) all applications proposing to modify the reference coordinates of any of the 122 FM channels scheduled to hit the blocks in Auction 79 (currently slated to kick off in September); and (b) all petitions or counterproposals that propose any change in channel, class, community or reference coordinates for any of those 122 channels. (Can’t remember what channels are up for sale in Auction 79? Click here for the current list.) This freeze will remain in effect until the day after the deadline for Auction 79 long form applications – which will likely be sometime late in the Fall, at the earliest.
The Commission also announced that it will not accept any commercial or noncommercial minor mod applications between June 16-25, 2009. That’s the filing window for short form (Form 175) applications for Auction 79.
These freezes are standard operating procedure when it comes to broadcast auctions. The goal is to avoid the creation of any conflicts (unforeseeable or otherwise) with auction proposals that could muck up the auction process.
For more information on the auction itself, see our relating post here.
