A second window for long-form translator applications is now open through October 9.
If you’ve got a singleton FM translator application still pending but you weren’t among the 1,200+ applicants who got invited to file long form Form 349 applications last July, take heart! The Media Bureau has issued another invitation, this time to 104 more translator applicants. You can see a PDF of the invite list here, or you can find a more sliceable and diceable Excel version here. If you’re on the list, get ready to act right away.
The same drill that applied to the July invitees applies this time around.
First and foremost, the deadline: this latest window will be open only until through Wednesday, October 9, 2013. Mark your calendars.
And heads up – if you’re planning on amending your technical proposal, be aware that the long-form application (and amendments) will be entitled to protection from all subsequently-filed FM translator applications (and their amendments). So the sooner you file, the better.
Applicants will need to include a filing fee and Form 159 with their long-forms, but since the long-forms must be filed electronically through CDBS, you’ll be reminded of that when you file. CDBS may not alert you, however, to the fact that your application will be subject to a number of limitations.
For example, modifications to the last-filed tech proposal may be proposed in the long-forms, but any modifications must be limited to “minor” changes and, as noted above, facilities proposed in long-form applications will be accorded protection from other FM translator applications on a first-come, first-served basis. If you propose new facilities that amount to a “major” change, you can expect to be summarily shown the door. Ditto if your amended proposal conflicts with any pending Auction 83 tech box proposal.
Also, applicants looking to change their technical proposals from the specs that were on file as of June 16, 2013 MUST INCLUDE a Preclusion Showing relative to LPFM filing opportunities. (You can find background about such Preclusion Showings, and some useful links, in our previous posts on the subject.)
And the public notice makes explicit what we had previously predicted:
[A]ny Form 349, to the extent it differs from the underlying tech box proposal (as pending on June 16, 2013), is not protected from applications submitted during the October 2013 (LPFM) filing window.
As we have reported, the Bureau has included conditions to that effect on a number of recent FM translator construction permits.
There are various other considerations to bear in mind. Anyone with an application listed among the 104 listed singletons should read the Bureau’s public notice super-carefully. It would be a shame to have waited more than a decade, only to stumble on one or another minor detail at this very last minute.