Sec. 1.248 Prehearing conferences; hearing conferences.
(a) The Commission, on its own initiative or at the request of any
party, may direct the parties or their attorneys to appear at a
specified time and place for a conference prior to a hearing, or to
submit suggestions in writing, for the purpose of considering, among
other things, the matters set forth in paragraph (c) of this section.
The initial prehearing conference shall
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be scheduled 30 days after the effective date of the order designating a
case for hearing, unless good cause is shown for scheduling such
conference at a later date.
(b)(1) The presiding officer (or the Commission or a panel of
commissioners in a case over which it presides), on his own initiative
or at the request of any party, may direct the parties or their
attorneys to appear at a specified time and place for a conference prior
to or during the course of a hearing, or to submit suggestions in
writing, for the purpose of considering any of the matters set forth in
paragraph (c) of this section. The initial prehearing conference shall
be scheduled 30 days after the effective date of the order designating a
case for hearing, unless good cause is shown for scheduling such
conference at a later date.
(2) Except as circumstances otherwise require, the presiding officer
shall allow a reasonable period prior to commencement of the hearing for
the orderly completion of all prehearing procedures, including
discovery, and for the submission and disposition of all prehearing
motions. Where the circumstances so warrant, the presiding officer
shall, promptly after the hearing is ordered, call a preliminary
prehearing conference, to inquire into the use of available procedures
contemplated by the parties and the time required for their completion,
to formulate a schedule for their completion, and to set a date for
commencement of the hearing.
(c) In conferences held, or in suggestions submitted, pursuant to
paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, the following matters, among
others, may be considered:
(1) The necessity or desirability of simplification, clarification,
amplification, or limitation of the issues;
(2) The admission of facts and of the genuineness of documents (see
Sec. 1.246), and the possibility of stipulating with respect to facts;
(3) The procedure at the hearing;
(4) The limitation of the number of witnesses;
(5) In cases arising under Title II of the Communications Act, the
necessity or desirability of amending the pleadings and offers of
settlement or proposals of adjustment; and
(6) In cases involving comparative broadcast applications:
(i) Narrowing the issues or the areas of inquiry and proof at the
hearing;
(ii) [Reserved]
(iii) Reports and letters relating to surveys or contacts;
(iv) Assumptions regarding the availability of equipment;
(v) Network programming;
(vi) Assumptions regarding the availability of networks proposed;
(vii) Offers of letters in general;
(viii) The method of handling evidence relating to the past
cooperation of existing stations owned and/or operated by the applicants
with organizations in the area;
(ix) Proof of contracts, agreements, or understandings reduced to
writing;
(x) Stipulations;
(xi) Need for depositions;
(xii) The numbering of exhibits;
(xiii) The order or offer of proof with relationship to docket
number;
(xiv) The date for the formal hearing; and
(xv) Such other matters as may expedite the conduct of the hearing.
(7) In proceedings in which consent agreements may be negotiated
(see Sec. 1.93), the parties shall be prepared to state at the initial
prehearing conference whether they are at that time willing to enter
negotiations leading to a consent agreement.
(d) This paragraph applies to broadcast proceedings only.
(1) At the prehearing conference prescribed by this section, the
parties to the proceeding shall be prepared to discuss the advisability
of reducing any or all phases of their affirmative direct cases to
written form.
(2) In hearings involving applications for new, improved and changed
facilities and in comparative hearings involving only applications for
new facilities, where it appears that it will contribute significantly
to the disposition of the proceeding for the parties to submit all or
any portion of their affirmative direct cases in writing, the presiding
officer may, in his discretion, require them to do so.
(3) In other broadcast proceedings, where it appears that it will
contribute
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significantly to the disposition of the proceeding for the parties to
submit all or any portion of their affirmative direct cases in writing,
it is the policy of the Commission to encourage them to do so. However,
the phase or phases of the proceeding to be submitted in writing, the
dates for the exchange of the written material, and other limitations
upon the effect of adopting the written case procedure (such as whether
material ruled out as incompetent may be restored by other competent
testimony) is to be left to agreement of the parties as approved by the
presiding officer.
(4) In broadcast comparative cases involving applicants for only new
facilities, oral testimony and cross examination will be permitted only
where, in the discretion of the presiding judge, material issues of
decisional fact cannot be resolved without oral evidentiary hearing
procedures or the public interest otherwise requires oral evidentiary
proceedings.
(e) An official transcript of all conferences shall be made.
(f) The presiding officer may, upon the written request of a party
or parties, approve the use of a speakerphone as a means of attendance
at a prehearing conference if such use is found to conduce to the proper
dispatch of business and the ends of justice.
[ 28 FR 12425 , Nov. 22, 1963, as amended at 33 FR 463 , Jan. 12, 1968; 36 FR 14133 , July 30, 1971; 37 FR 7507 , Apr. 15, 1972; 41 FR 14873 , Apr. 8,
1976; 43 FR 33251 , July 31, 1978; 56 FR 793 , Jan. 9, 1991]
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