Sec. 101.41  Ownership changes and agreements to amend or dismiss 
          applications or pleadings.

    (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, applicants 
or any other parties in interest to pending applications must comply 
with the provisions of this section whenever:
    (1) They participate in any agreement (or understanding) which 
involves any consideration promised or received, directly or indirectly, 
including any agreement (or understanding) for merger of interests or 
the reciprocal withdrawal of applications; and
    (2) The agreement (or understanding) may result in either:
    (i) A proposed substantial change in beneficial ownership or control 
(dejure or de facto) of an applicant such that the change would require, 
in the case of an authorized station, the filing of a prior assignment 
or transfer of control application under section 310(d) of the 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 310(d)), or
    (ii) Proposed withdrawal, amendment or dismissal of any 
application(s), amendment(s), petition(s), pleading(s), or any 
combination thereof, which would thereby permit the grant without 
hearing, comparative evaluation under Sec. 101.51, or random selection 
of an application previously in contested status.
    (b) The provisions of this section will not be applicable to any 
engineering agreement (or understanding) that:
    (1) Resolves frequency conflicts with authorized stations or other 
pending applications without the creation of new or increased frequency 
conflicts; and
    (2) Does not involve any consideration promised or received, 
directly or indirectly (including any merger of interests or reciprocal 
withdrawal of applications), other than the mutual benefit of resolving 
the engineering conflict.
    (c) For any agreement subject to this section, the applicant of an 
application which would remain pending pursuant to such an agreement 
will be considered responsible for the compliance by all parties with 
the procedures of this section. Failure of the parties to comply with 
the procedures of this section will constitute a defect in those 
applications which are involved in the agreement and remain in a pending 
status.
    (d) The principals to any agreement or understanding subject to this 
section must comply with the standards of paragraph (e) of this section 
in accordance with the following procedure:
    (1) Within ten (10) days after entering into the agreement, the 
parties thereto must jointly notify the Commission in writing of the 
existence and general terms of such agreement, the identity of all of 
the participants and the applications involved;
    (2) Within thirty (30) days after entering into the agreement, the 
parties thereto must file any proposed application amendments, motions, 
or requests together with a copy of the agreement which clearly sets 
forth all terms and provisions, and such other facts and information as 
necessary to satisfy the standards of paragraph (e) of this section. 
Such submission must be accompanied by the certification by affidavit of 
each principal to the agreement declaring that the statements made are 
true, complete, and correct to the best

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of their knowledge and belief, and are made in good faith; and
    (3) The Commission may request any further information which in its 
judgment it believes is necessary for a determination under paragraph 
(e) of this section.
    (e) The Commission will grant an application (or applications) 
involved in the agreement (or understanding) only if it finds upon 
examination of the information submitted, and upon consideration of such 
other matters as may be officially noticed, that the agreement is 
consistent with the public interest, and the amount of any monetary 
consideration and the cash value of any other consideration promised or 
received is not in excess of those legitimate and prudent costs directly 
assignable to the engineering, preparation, filing and advocacy of the 
withdrawn, dismissed, or amended application(s), amendment(s), 
petition(s), pleading(s), or any combination thereof. Where such costs 
represent the applicant's in-house efforts, these costs may include only 
directly assignable costs and must exclude general overhead expenses. 
(The treatment to be accorded such consideration for interstate rate 
making purposes will be determined at such time as the question may 
arise in an appropriate rate proceeding.) An itemized accounting must be 
submitted to support the amount of consideration involved except where 
such consideration (including the fair market value of any non-cash 
consideration) promised or received does not exceed one thousand dollars 
($1,000.00). Where consideration involves a sale of facilities or merger 
of interests, the accounting must clearly identify that portion of the 
consideration allocated for such facilities or interests and a detailed 
description thereof, including estimated fair market value. The 
Commission will not presume an agreement (or understanding) to be prima 
facie contrary to the public interest solely because it incorporates a 
mutual agreement to withdraw pending application(s), amendment(s), 
petition(s), pleading(s), or any combination thereof.