Sec. 1.420  Additional procedures in proceedings for amendment of the FM 
          or TV Tables of Allotments.

    (a) Comments filed in proceedings for amendment of the FM Table of 
Allotments (Sec. 73.202 of this chapter) or the Television Table of 
Allotments (Sec. 73.606 of this chapter) which are initiated on a 
petition for rule making shall be served on petitioner by the person who 
files the comments.
    (b) Reply comments filed in proceedings for amendment of the FM or 
Television Tables of Allotments shall be served on the person(s) who 
filed the comments to which the reply is directed.
    (c) Such comments and reply comments shall be accompanied by a 
certificate of service.
    (d) Counterproposals shall be advanced in initial comments only and 
will not be considered if they are advanced in reply comments.
    (e) An original and 4 copies of all petitions for rulemaking, 
comments, reply comments, and other pleadings shall be filed with the 
Commission.
    (f) Petitions for reconsideration and responsive pleadings shall be 
served on parties to the proceeding and on any licensee or permittee 
whose authorization may be modified to specify operation on a different 
channel, and shall be accompanied by a certificate of service.
    (g) The Commission may modify the license or permit of an FM station 
to another class of channel or of a UHF

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TV station to a VHF channel in the same community in the course of the 
rule making proceeding to amend Sec. 73.202(b), Sec. 73.504(a) or 
Sec. 73.606(b) if any of the following conditions are met:
    (1) There is no other timely filed expression of interest, or
    (2) If another interest in the proposed channel is timely filed an 
additional equivalent class of channel is also allotted, assigned or 
available for application, or
    (3) With respect to FM, the modification of license or permit would 
occur on a mutually exclusive higher class adjacent or co-channel.

    Note 1: In certain situations, a licensee or permittee may seek an 
adjacent, intermediate frequency or co-channel upgrade by application. 
See Sec. 73.203(b) of this chapter.

    (h) Where licensees (or permittees) of television broadcast stations 
jointly petition to amend Sec. 73.606(b) and to exchange channels, and 
where one of the licensees (or permittees) operates on a commercial 
channel while the other operates on a reserved noncommercial educational 
channel within the same band, and the stations serve substantially the 
same market, then the Commission may amend Sec. 73.606(b) and modify the 
licenses (or permits) of the petitioners to specify operation on the 
appropriate channels upon a finding that such action will promote the 
public interest, convenience, and necessity.

    Note 2: Licensees and permittees operating Class A FM stations who 
seek to upgrade their facilities to Class B1, B, C3, C2, C1, or C on 
Channel 221, and whose proposed 1 mV/m signal contours would overlap the 
Grade B contour of a television station operating on Channel 6 must meet 
a particularly heavy burden by demonstrating that grants of their 
upgrade requests are in the public interest. In this regard, the 
Commission will examine the record in rule making proceedings to 
determine the availability of existing and potential non-commercial 
education service.

    (i) In the course of the rule making proceeding to amend 
Sec. 73.202(b) or Sec. 73.606(b), the Commission may modify the license 
or permit of an FM or television broadcast station to specify a new 
community of license where the amended allotment would be mutually 
exclusive with the licensee's or permittee's present assignment.
    (j) Whenever an expression of interest in applying for, 
constructing, and operating a station has been filed in a proceeding to 
amend the FM or TV Table of Allotments, and the filing party seeks to 
dismiss or withdraw the expression of interest, either unilaterally or 
in exchange for financial consideration, that party must file with the 
Commission a request for approval of the dismissal or withdrawal, a copy 
of any written agreement related to the dismissal or withdrawal, and an 
affidavit setting forth:
    (1) A certification that neither the party withdrawing its interest 
nor its principals has received or will receive any money or other 
consideration in excess of legitimate and prudent expenses in exchange 
for the dismissal or withdrawal of the expression of interest;
    (2) The exact nature and amount of any consideration received or 
promised;
    (3) An itemized accounting of the expenses for which it seeks 
reimbursement; and
    (4) The terms of any oral agreement related to the dismissal or 
withdrawal of the expression of interest.
    (5) In addition, within 5 days of a party's request for approval, 
each remaining party to any written or oral agreement must submit an 
affidavit setting forth:
    (i) A certification that neither it nor its principals has paid or 
will pay money or other consideration in excess of the legitimate and 
prudent expenses of the party withdrawing its expression of interest; 
and
    (ii) The terms of any oral agreement relating to the dismissal or 
withdrawal of the expression of interest.

(Secs. 4, 303, 307, 48 Stat., as amended, 1066, 1082, 1083; 47 U.S.C. 
154, 303, )
[39 307 FR 44022 , Dec. 20, 1974, as amended at  40 FR 53391 , Nov. 18, 1975; 
 41 FR 1287 , Jan. 7, 1976;  51 FR 15629 , Apr. 25, 1986;  51 FR 20291 , June 
4, 1986;  52 FR 8260 , Mar. 17, 1987;  52 FR 25866 , July 9, 1987;  54 FR 16366 , Apr. 24, 1989;  54 FR 26201 , June 22, 1989;  55 FR 28914 , July 16, 
1990;  58 FR 38535 , July 19, 1993;  59 FR 59503 , Nov. 17, 1994;  61 FR 43472 , Aug. 23, 1996]