Federal Register: FCC (Broadcasting)

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) proposes to extend its foreign ownership rules and procedures that apply to common carrier licensees to broadcast licensees, with certain modifications to tailor them to the broadcast context. The Commission also seeks comment on whether and how to revise the methodology a licensee should use to assess its compliance with the 25 percent foreign ownership benchmark in section 310(b)(4) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, in order to reduce regulatory burdens on applicants and licensees. Finally, the Commission makes several proposals to clarify and update existing foreign ownership policies and procedures for broadcast, common carrier and aeronautical licensees.

In this Second Order on Reconsideration, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) provides more flexibility to broadcasters interested in the channel sharing option in the broadcast incentive auction by clarifying that back-up channel sharing agreements (``CSAs'') are permitted under its rules and providing more time for successful bidders to transition to shared facilities after the auction. The Commission also provides guidance regarding how the CSA exception to the prohibited communications rule applies with respect to back-up CSAs.

In this document, the Commission refines the rules it adopted in the Incentive Auction Report and Order and the preceding Channel Sharing Report and Order to provide greater flexibility and certainty regarding channel sharing agreements (``CSAs''). Among other things, we modify our rules to allow broadcasters that relinquish rights in the incentive auction in order to channel share to enter into CSAs after the auction and, whether they enter into CSAs before or after the auction, to determine the length of their agreements.

This document announces the final application procedures for the broadcast television spectrum incentive auction (Auction 1000), including the forward and reverse auctions (Auctions 1001 and 1002 respectively). This document also summarizes detailed information, instructions, and deadlines for filing applications, as well as certain post-auction procedures established by the Commission's prior orders.

Petitions for Reconsideration (Petitions) have been filed in the Commission's Rulemaking Proceeding by Ari Q. Fitzgerald, on behalf of GE Healthcare; Ronald J. Bruno on behalf of The VideoHouse, Inc.; Benjamin Perez on behalf of Abacus Television; Lawrence Rogow on behalf of WMTM, LLC; and Larry E. Morton on behalf of KMYA, LLC.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (``Commission'') amends the portion of its rules known as the ``Contest Rule'' to permit broadcast licensees to comply with their obligation to disclose material contest terms either by broadcasting those terms or by making them available in writing on a publicly accessible Internet Web site. In particular, the Commission amends the Contest Rule to allow licensees to satisfy their disclosure obligation by posting material contest terms on the station's Web site, the licensee's Web site, or, if neither the individual station nor the licensee has its own Web site, any Internet Web site that is readily accessible to the public. The Commission also adopts requirements that define the disclosure obligation in cases where a licensee has chosen to meet its obligation through an Internet Web site.

In this document, the Media Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) provides notice of the revised comment and reply comment deadlines in this proceeding. The comment period in this proceeding has previously been suspended pending action in the Commission's incentive auction proceeding and the Media Bureau announces that it has been restarted and the new deadlines for filing comments and reply comments.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved, for a period of three years, certain information collection requirements associated with the Commission's Expanding the Economic and Innovation Opportunities of Spectrum Through Incentive Auctions Report and Order (Incentive Auction Report and Order), FCC 14- 50. This document is consistent with the Incentive Auction Report and Order, which stated that the Commission would publish a document in the Federal Register announcing OMB approval and the effective date of to the new information collection requirements.

The Federal Communications Commission (the Commission) acts to improve the Commission's efficiency, effectively manage Commission resources, and align the Commission's field enforcement activities with contemporary needs for a field enforcement presence. The Commission, the Office of Managing Director and the Enforcement Bureau will take several actions to realign the mission and resources of its 24 field offices. The Bureau's field offices will primarily support the enforcement of the Commission's radio frequency spectrum rules and other key regulations in a manner likely to have the greatest impact, in the most cost effective way possible.

In this document, the Commission proposes to designate a second available vacant channel in the UHF television band for use by white space devices and wireless microphones in those areas where the duplex gap of the 600 MHz Band is subject to impairment by a television station.