Meanwhile, back at the ranch …
While the NAB and Sinclair press their appeal of the Commission’s Incentive Spectrum Auction Report and Order (R&O), a number of other folks have expressed their discontent with various aspects of the R&O in petitions for reconsideration that the FCC will have to address and resolve. A list of those petitions has been published in the Federal Register. That notice sets the deadlines for oppositions and replies. Oppositions to any or all of these petitions must be filed by November 12, 2014; replies to any oppositions are due by November 21.
More than 30 separate petitions have been filed on behalf of:
- Abacus Television
- Artemis Networks, LLC
- GE Healthcare
- Competitive Carriers Association
- Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance
- T-Mobile USA, Inc.
- Beach TV Properties, Inc.
- Free Access & Broadcast Telemedia, LLC
- Bonton Media Group, Inc./Raycom Media, Inc.
- Block Communications, Inc./FBC Television Affiliates Association,
- Gannett Co., Inc./Graham Media Group/ICA Broadcasting
- Qualcomm Incorporated
- CBS Television Network Affiliates Association/NBC Television Affiliates/ABC Television Affiliates Associates Association/FBC Television Affiliates Association
- Cohen, Dippell and Everist, P.C.
- the American Society for Healthcare Engineering of the American Hospital Association (WMTS Coalition)
- Journal Broadcast Corporation
- NBC Telemundo License LLC
- Radio Television Digital News Association
- LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition
- Sennheiser Electronic Corporation
- the Dispatching Printing Company
- Media General, Inc.
- the Videohouse
- Public Broadcasting Service, Inc./Association of Public Television Stations/Corporation for Public Broadcasting
- American Legacy Foundation
- Signal Above, LLC
- the Walt Disney Company
- International Broadcasting Network
- U.S. Television, LLC
- Mako Communications, LLC.
- Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition
You can take a look at the various petitions on ECFS – just go to the ECFS Search page and enter “12-268” in the “Proceeding Number” box and, in the “Type of Filing” box in the “Advanced Options” sections, select “Petition for Reconsideration from the drop-down menu. (Note that the list in the Federal Register does not correspond exactly to the petitions available on ECFS, but it’s reasonably close. One apparent omission: When we performed the ECFS search, it turned up a petition filed on behalf of Sprint that isn’t listed in the Federal Register notice.)
After the FCC has ruled on these petitions, interested parties will have the opportunity to seek judicial review of the FCC’s reconsideration order. If (as may reasonably be expected) this leads to more appeals on the spectrum auction front, there’s no telling what impact that might have on the start date of the auctions. As we reported last week, the anticipated start has already moved from 2015 to "early 2016" because of (among other things) the already-pending NAB and Sinclair appeals.
Check back here for updates.