[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 250 (Wednesday, December 30, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 81545-81546]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-32864]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
[AU Docket No. 14-252, GN Docket No. 12-268, WT Docket No. 12-269; DA
15-1428]
Application Procedures for Broadcast Incentive Auction Scheduled
To Begin on March 29, 2016; Updates and Other Supplemental Information
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This document updates and supplements information on
procedures for the Broadcast Incentive Auction.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wireless Telecommunications Bureau,
Auctions and Spectrum Access Division: For general auction questions
contact Linda Sanderson, at (717) 338-2868; for reverse auction legal
questions contact Erin Griffith or Kathryn Hinton at (202) 418-0660;
for forward auction legal questions contact Leslie Barnes or Valerie
Barrish at (202) 418-0660.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Broadcast Incentive
Auction Supplemental Information Public Notice (PN), AU Docket No. 14-
252, GN Docket No. 12-268, WT Docket No. 12-269, DA 15-1428, released
on December 21, 2015. The complete text of the Broadcast Incentive
Auction Supplemental Information PN, including the attachments, is
available for public inspection and copying from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
ET Monday through Thursday or from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET on
Fridays in the FCC Reference Information Center, 445 12th Street SW.,
Room CY-A257, Washington, DC 20554. The complete text is also available
on the Commission's Web site at http://wireless.fcc.gov, or by using
the search function on the ECFS Web page at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/. Alternative formats are available to persons with disabilities
by sending an email to [email protected] or by calling the Consumer &
Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432
(TTY).
I. Introduction
1. The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (Bureau) updates and
supplements information provided in the Auction 1000 Application
Procedures Public Notice (PN), 80 FR 66429, October 29, 2015.
Specifically, the Bureau announces that the pre-auction process
tutorial for the forward auction will be available by January 19, 2016;
provides additional information concerning access to the Commission's
bidding system (Auction System) for the reverse and forward auctions;
provides additional details about the grouping of Partial Economic
Areas (PEAs) in the assignment phase of the forward auction; and makes
ministerial changes to two of the appendices released with the Auction
1000 Application Procedures PN. All other dates and deadlines, as well
as other application procedures, instructions, and information, remain
as previously announced.
II. Tutorial on Forward Auction Pre-Auction Process To Be Available by
January 19, 2016
2. The Bureau will make available an interactive, online tutorial
focusing on the pre-auction application process for the forward auction
(Auction 1002) no later than January 19, 2016. The pre-auction
application process tutorial will be accessible from the Commission's
Auction 1002 Web page at http://www.fcc.gov/auctions/1002 through a
link under the ``Education'' tab. Once posted, the tutorial will remain
available and accessible on the Auction 1002 Web page anytime for
reference.
III. Access to the Auction System for Bidding
3. As previously described in the Auction 1000 Application
Procedures PN, an applicant must have an FCC-provided SecurID[supreg]
token to access the Auction System in order to place bids in the
reverse or forward clock rounds, as well as to participate in any mock
auction. SecurID[supreg] tokens will be distributed to applicants for
the reverse auction prior to the deadline for initial commitments, and
to forward auction applicants prior to the announcement of qualified
bidders, to enable applicants with complete applications to practice
with the Auction System. Each authorized bidder identified on an
applicant's FCC Form 177 or 175 will be issued a unique SecurID[supreg]
token tailored to that bidder. For security purposes, the
SecurID[supreg] tokens, the telephonic bidding telephone number, and
the relevant Auction System Bidder's Guide are mailed only to the
applicant's contact person at the contact address listed on its auction
application.
A. Reverse Auction Applicants
4. Each reverse auction (Auction 1001) applicant permitted to make
an initial commitment must do so in the Auction System using a
SecurID[supreg] token. The Bureau will therefore provide
SecurID[supreg] tokens prior to the initial commitment deadline.
5. As explained in the Auction 1000 Application Procedures PN, an
applicant will receive confidential notices concerning the status of
its application and of each station selected on its application after
the initial filing deadline (First Confidential Status Letter) and
after the resubmission deadline (Second Confidential Status Letter),
respectively. Each applicant whose application and at least one
selected station have been deemed ``complete'' in the Second
Confidential Status Letter will be permitted to make an initial
commitment to a preferred relinquishment option for each complete
station using a SecurID[supreg] token. Additional instructions for
making an initial commitment will be provided to each applicant with
one or more complete stations as an enclosure to its Second
Confidential Status Letter.
6. Once the initial clearing target has been determined based on
initial commitments, an applicant that was permitted to make an initial
commitment will receive a third confidential status letter (Final
Confidential Status Letter) notifying the applicant for each complete
station whether or not the station is qualified to bid in the clock
rounds of the reverse auction. An applicant with one or more qualified
stations will be eligible to participate in a mock auction prior to
bidding in the clock rounds of the reverse auction. Additional
instructions for participating in the mock auction and for placing bids
in the clock rounds of the reverse auction, using the applicant's
previously received SecurID[supreg] tokens, will be provided to each
applicant that has at least one station qualified to bid. Any applicant
with a station that is not qualified to bid in the reverse auction
clock rounds will not be able to place clock round bids for that
station in the Auction System.
B. Forward Auction Applicants
7. As described in the Auction 1000 Application Procedures PN, an
Auction 1002 applicant whose application has been deemed to be
``complete'' will be eligible to practice with the Auction System prior
to the mock auction that will be offered to qualified bidders. Any
applicant that is eligible to practice with the Auction System must
have a SecurID[supreg] token to log in. SecurID[supreg] tokens along
with instructions for practicing with the Auction System will therefore
be distributed to each applicant whose application is listed as
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complete in a public notice to be released after the deadline for
resubmitting corrected applications and prior to the announcement of
qualified bidders in the Auction 1002 Qualified Bidders PN.
8. Each applicant listed as a qualified bidder in the Auction 1002
Qualified Bidders PN will be provided with additional instructions for
participating in the mock auction and for placing bids in the forward
auction using the applicant's previously received SecurID[supreg]
tokens. Any applicant whose application was listed as complete after
the deadline for resubmitting corrected applications that does not
become qualified to bid will not be permitted to access the Auction
System for bidding.
IV. Grouping of PEAs for Forward Auction Assignment Phase Bidding
9. In the Auction 1000 Bidding Procedures PN, 80 FR 61918, October
14, 2015, the Commission adopted procedures for assignment phase
bidding which depend in part upon the Regional Economic Area Grouping
(REAG) in which a PEA is included. The public notice indicated that,
for the grouping and sequencing of PEAs in the assignment rounds, the
PEAs in the six least populous REAGs will be included with the PEAs in
one of the six REAGs that cover the contiguous United States.
Attachment 1 to the Broadcast Incentive Auction Supplemental
Information PN lists each PEA and the REAG with which it will be
associated for assignment phase bidding purposes.
V. Corrections and Notifications to Technical Appendices
10. The Bureau makes ministerial changes to two of the appendices
released with the Auction 1000 Application Procedures PN. First, the
Bureau corrects typographical errors in the text of APPENDIX D to the
Auction 1000 Application Procedures PN. Specifically, in Section 5.5 of
APPENDIX D, (a) the variable u and the variable s should be switched in
much of the text in the section, including the examples, and (b) the
variable t in Example 3 should be replaced by the variable s. The
corrected text to Section 5.5 of APPENDIX D is shown in Attachment 2 of
the Broadcast Incentive Auction Supplemental Information PN.
11. The Bureau also notes that in Section 3.2 of APPENDIX E to the
Auction 1000 Application Procedures PN, includes those Mexican stations
that cause pairwise interference less than 0.5 percent to U.S. stations
when placed on their future channel as specified in the Mexican
Coordination.
Federal Communications Commission.
Craig Bomberger,
Deputy Division Chief, Auctions and Spectrum Access Division, WTB.
[FR Doc. 2015-32864 Filed 12-29-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P