Auction 112: Full Power Television

General information and associated licensing parameters are provided below.  Public notices provide specific information regarding this auction. This fact sheet includes:

• Key Dates
• Construction Permits Offered
• Permissible Operations
• License Period and Construction Requirements
• New Entrant Bidding Credits
• Licensing Rules

Key Dates

Construction Permits Offered

Auction 112 will offer 27 construction permits for TV stations.  The permits are listed in Attachment A to the Auction 112 Procedures Public Notice.

The permits available in Auction 112 are for channel allotments contained in the Table of Television Allotments (TV Table) and assigned at the indicated communities for which there currently is not a licensee.  Each permit awarded will be for one of the allotted-but-unlicensed channels currently contained in the TV Table.

Permissible Operations

TV Broadcast — A station in the television broadcast band transmitting simultaneous visual and aural signals intended to be received by the general public.  It may also provide ancillary and supplementary services consistent with 74.624(c).

License Period and Construction Requirements

A winning bidder will be awarded a construction permit rather than a license.  A winning bidder will then be required, within three years, to construct its facility and file an application for a “license to cover construction permit” to obtain a license for the constructed facilities (see 47 CFR § 73.3598).  Licenses will be issued for a term lasting no longer than eight years.

New Entrant Bidding Credits

A New Entrant Bidding Credit will be available for this auction.  Eligibility and application requirements for the New Entrant Bidding Credit are specified in the Auction 112 Procedures Public Notice.  Applicants that qualify for the New Entrant Bidding Credit are eligible for a bidding credit that represents the amount by which a bidder’s winning bid is discounted.  The size of a New Entrant Bidding Credit depends on the number of interests in other media of mass communications that are attributable to the applicant and its attributable interest holders:  

• A 35% bidding credit will be given to a winning bidder if it, and/or any individual or entity with an attributable interest in the winning bidder, has no attributable interest in any other media of mass communications, as defined in 47 CFR § 73.5008;
• A 25% bidding credit will be given to a winning bidder if it, and/or any individual or entity with an attributable interest in the winning bidder, has an attributable interest in no more than three mass media facilities, as defined in 47 CFR § 73.5008;

No bidding credit will be given if any of the commonly owned mass media facilities serve the same area as the broadcast station proposed in the auction, as defined in 47 CFR § 73.5007(b), or if the winning bidder, and/or any individual or entity with an attributable interest in the winning bidder, has attributable interests in more than three mass media facilities. 

Bidders intending to divest a media interest or make any other ownership changes, such as resignation of positional interests, in order to avoid attribution for purposes of qualifying for the New Entrant Bidding Credit, must have consummated such divestment transactions or have completed such ownership changes by no later than the short-form application filing deadline (see “Key Dates”).  Events occurring after the short-form application filing deadline, such as the acquisition of an attributable interest in a medium of mass communications, may cause diminishment or loss of the bidding credit.

Licensing Rules

47 CFR §§ 73.601‐73.699 contain applicable service rules for television broadcast service, and 47 CFR §§ 73.1001 – 73.4280 contain applicable rules for broadcast stations generally, including the television broadcast service.