But what happened to the First Order on Recon?
its break-neck pace with respect to all things Broadcast Incentive Auction, the Commission has published its most recent order on channel sharing in the Federal Register. (We reported on that order when it was first released by the FCC just last week.). As a result of its appearance in the Register, that order will take effect on December 2, 2015, just in time for the opening of the Form 177 window.
Technically, the order is titled “Second Order on Reconsideration”. The Commission may be getting a bit ahead of itself, though, because the “First Order on Reconsideration” in the same proceeding was issued last June, but appears not to have made it into the Federal Register yet, so it still hasn’t taken effect. (No worries, though – we have it on excellent authority that that First Order will finally show up in tomorrow’s Register.)
As attentive readers have ideally come to appreciate, publication in the Register establishes not only the effective date of new or modified rules, but also the deadlines for seeking reconsideration and/or review of those rules. Anyone planning on asking the FCC to re-think its October, 2015 decision on channel sharing should get the petition for reconsideration on file no later than December 2. If, on the other hand, you’re inclined to seek judicial review of the order, you’ve got until January 4 … unless you have your heart set on getting your appeal heard in a particular Circuit, in which case you’d best get your petition for review filed by November 12 – and then be sure to follow-up with the steps required if you want to be eligible for the judicial lottery procedure, should that come into play.