Goto Section: 1.2204 | 1.2206 | Table of Contents
FCC 1.2205
Revised as of October 2, 2015
Goto Year:2014 |
2016
§ 1.2205 Prohibition of certain communications.
Link to an amendment published at 80 FR 56809 , September 18, 2015.
(a) Definitions. (1) For the purposes of this section, a full power
broadcast television licensee, or a Class A broadcast television licensee,
shall include all controlling interests in the licensee, and all officers,
directors, and governing board members of the licensee.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the term forward auction applicant is
defined the same as the term applicant is defined in § 1.2105(c)(7).
(b) Certain communications prohibited. (1) Except as provided in paragraph
(b)(2) of this section, in the broadcast television spectrum incentive
auction conducted under section 6403 of the Spectrum Act, beginning on the
deadline for submitting applications to participate in the reverse auction
and until the results of the incentive auction are announced by public
notice, all full power and Class A broadcast television licensees are
prohibited from communicating directly or indirectly any incentive auction
applicant's bids or bidding strategies to any other full power or Class A
broadcast television licensee or to any forward auction applicant.
(2) The prohibition described in paragraph (b)(1) of this section does not
apply to the following:
(i) Communications between full power or Class A broadcast television
licensees if they share a common controlling interest, director, officer, or
governing board member as of the deadline for submitting applications to
participate in the reverse auction;
(ii) Communications between a forward auction applicant and a full power or
Class A broadcast television licensee if a controlling interest, director,
officer, or holder of any 10 percent or greater ownership interest in the
forward auction applicant, as of the deadline for submitting short-form
applications to participate in the forward auction, is also a controlling
interest, director, officer, or governing board member of the full power or
Class A broadcast television licensee, as of the deadline for submitting
applications to participate in the reverse auction; and
(iii) Communications regarding reverse auction applicants' (but not forward
auction applicants') bids and bidding strategies between parties to a
channel sharing agreement executed prior to the deadline for submitting
applications to participate in the reverse auction and disclosed on a
reverse auction application.
(c) Duty to report potentially prohibited communications. A party that makes
or receives a communication prohibited under paragraph (b) of this section
shall report such communication in writing immediately, and in any case no
later than five business days after the communication occurs. A party's
obligation to make such a report continues until the report has been made.
(d) Procedures for reporting potentially prohibited communications. Reports
under paragraph (c) of this section shall be filed as directed in public
notices detailing procedures for bidding in the incentive auction. If no
public notice provides direction, the party making the report shall do so in
writing to the Chief of the Auctions and Spectrum Access Division, Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau, by the most expeditious means available,
including electronic transmission such as email.
(e) Violations. A party who is found to have violated the antitrust laws or
the Commission's rules in connection with its participation in the
competitive bidding process, in addition to any other applicable sanctions,
may be subject to forfeiture of its winning bid incentive payment and
revocation of its licenses, where applicable, and may be prohibited from
participating in future auctions.
Note 1 to § 1.2205: References to “full power broadcast television
licensees” and “Class A broadcast television licensees” are intended to
include all broadcast television licensees that are or could become eligible
to participate in the reverse auction, including broadcast television
licensees that may be parties to a channel sharing agreement.
Note 2 to § 1.2205: For the purposes of this section, “controlling
interests” include individuals or entities with positive or negative de jure
or de facto control of the licensee. De jure control includes holding 50
percent or more of the voting stock of a corporation or holding a general
partnership interest in a partnership. Ownership interests that are held
indirectly by any party through one or more intervening corporations may be
determined by successive multiplication of the ownership percentages for
each link in the vertical ownership chain and application of the relevant
attribution benchmark to the resulting product, except that if the ownership
percentage for an interest in any link in the chain meets or exceeds 50
percent or represents actual control, it may be treated as if it were a 100
percent interest. De facto control is determined on a case-by-case basis.
Examples of de facto control include constituting or appointing 50 percent
or more of the board of directors or management committee; having authority
to appoint, promote, demote, and fire senior executives that control the
day-to-day activities of the licensee; or playing an integral role in
management decisions.
Note 3 to § 1.2205: The prohibition described in § 1.2205(b)(1) applies to
controlling interests, officers, directors, and governing board members of a
full power or Class A broadcast television licensee as of the deadline for
submitting applications to participate in the reverse auction, and any
additional such parties at any subsequent point prior to the announcement by
public notice of the results of the incentive auction. Thus, if, for
example, a full power or Class A broadcast television licensee appoints a
new officer after the application deadline, that new officer would be
subject to the prohibition in § 1.2205(b)(1), but would not be included
within the exceptions described in § § 1.2205(b)(2)(i) and (ii).
Effective Date Note: At 79 FR 48530 , Aug. 15, 2014, § 1.2205 was added.
Paragraphs (c) and (d) contain information collection and recordkeeping
requirements and will not become effective until approval has been given by
the Office of Management and Budget.
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Goto Section: 1.2204 | 1.2206
Goto Year: 2014 |
2016
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