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Station Filing Freeze Lifted

Station Filing Freeze Lifted

The temporary freeze on filing applications to build or sell radio stations has been lifted. The Office of Management and Budget has approved the new FCC application forms for construction permits, Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License and Application for Consent to Transfer Control of Entity Holding Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License (forms 301, 314 and 315 respectively).
The freeze began when a federal appeals court recently allowed the commission to implement its new radio market definition – based on Arbitron Radio Metros. The new definition, delayed more than a year since commissioners passed it last June, replaces the contour overlap method of determining how many signals are in a market. The agency is working on a definition for those markets not rated by Arbitron.
Pending applications filed on the old forms must be amended to demonstrate compliance with the new local radio ownership rules or to ask for a waiver of these rules. Pending TV applications must also be changed to show compliance with the joint radio-TV ownership rule if the applicant holds an attributable interest in any radio station in the same market.
Joint sales agreements now “count” toward ownership caps in a market. Non-commercial stations also now count toward the total number of stations in a market.

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