Since the FCC's original announcement of the groups of mutually exclusive (MX) LPFM applications, the FCC has allowed applicants to make minor changes that involve physical moves of less than 5.6 kilometers and changes in channel to the first, second or third adjacent as well as the intermediate frequency channels (10.6/10.8 MHz) as well as dismissals triggered by both application discrepencies as well as at the request of the applicants, the number of active MX groups, as tracked by REC has reduced from 417 to 316.
The largest MX group, the Los Angeles 101.5 MegaGroup has reduced from 32 to 27 applicants. Of those, two of those applicants have been dismissed and are currently in the 30-day reconsideration period.
The second largest MX group, the Orlando MegaGroup has reduced from 17 to 14 applicants including one that managed to find a bail-out channel and has been granted.
Three MX groups in Connecticut, New York and Puerto Rico have been split into two groups due to other MX applicants making moves or getting dismissed.
Of the applicants that were MX that were dismissed for reasons that are eligible for consideration (such as a weak second adjacent waiver or not enough power requested), the last application was dismissed on March 29. This means that their 30-day reconsideration period ends on April 28. Unless the FCC dismisses any more applications from the MX groups for technical or administrative reasons and based on any late change activity taking place, we could very likely have the determination of the final MX groups that will be going into the 90-day settlement window by the end of the month.
While not confirmed yet by FCC staff, we have heard there is a possibility that the FCC will be first issuing a public notice that redefines the MX groups as a result of all of the dismissal and change activity. We feel that after that, we could see the first of the public notices announcing a 90-day window. In previous discussions with Staff, it is our general belief that the first MX groups that will go on Public Notice are those in areas where there are groups with only 2 or 3 applicants in each revised MX group. Below, we list the geographic areas that have at least one MX group with 4 or more applicants in it. It is likely that these groups may not be in the first public notice if the FCC only includes areas with 2 or 3 applicants in the first public notice. Again, this is only speculation.
We do not know how much impact the Cesar Guel investigation is having on the MX public notice. We are aware that some of the Guel-assisted applications are blocking potential channels that some applicants can move to during the 90-day window. Even if the FCC was to find all 249 of the Guel-assisted applications to be invalid and therefore dismissed, the reconsideration and review process could potentially tie up these channels for years. Many of these applications are in the areas where there are more than 4 applicants in a group and if we follow the logic we speculate that the groups below will not be done in the first batch public notice, that gives the FCC more time to resolve this issue.
While we understand that there are certain situations that could be resolved by the dismissal of the Guel-assisted applications, we feel that one person can not grind LPFM to a halt. We need to continue with the MX process. Our desire is that Guel voluntarily dismiss the singleton applications that are blocking potential "bail-out" channels for higher scoring (5 point) MX applicants, especially in the Houston area.
So in answer to when the MX 90-day public notice will come out. The absolute earliest will be April 29, but I don't think it will be out until about this summer.
More to come as we get it!
TO SEE OUR LIST OF REVISED MX GROUPS EFFECTIVE CLOSE OF BUSINESS ON APRIL 11, 2014, VISIT:
http://recnet.net/revisedmx
