Sec. 21.931  Partitioned service areas (PSAs).

    (a)(1) The holder of a BTA authorization may enter into contracts 
with eligible parties to partition any portion of its service area 
according to county boundaries, or according to other geopolitical 
subdivision boundaries, or multiple contiguous counties or geopolitical 
subdivisions within the BTA service area.
    (2)(i) Partitioning contracts must be filed with the Commission 
within 30 days of the date that such agreements are reached.
    (ii) The contracts must include descriptions of the areas being 
partitioned and include any documentation necessary to convey to the 
Commission the precise boundaries of the partitioned area.
    (3) Parties to partitioning contracts must file concurrently with 
such contracts one of the following, where appropriate:
    (i) An MDS long-form application for authority to operate a new MDS 
station within the PSA;
    (ii) Applications for assignment or transfer of existing stations 
with the PSA; or
    (iii) A statement of intention as defined in Sec. 21.956(a) along 
with a completed FCC Form 430.
    (b) The eligibility requirements applicable to BTA authorization 
holders also apply to those individuals and entities seeking PSA 
authorizations.
    (c) Any individual or entity acquiring the rights to a partitioned 
area of a BTA also acquires the rights to any previously authorized 
individual stations located within the partitioned area that were held 
by the previous authorization holder, provided that grantable 
applications for assignment and transfer of control, FCC Forms 702 and 
704, are filed for existing stations and that acceptable amendments to 
pending long-form applications are filed. Pending long-form applications 
filed by the previous authorization holder for transmitter sites within 
the

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PSA may also be dismissed without prejudice at the applicant's request.
    (d) Authorizations for PSAs will be issued in accordance with 
Sec. 21.958; however, when individual stations within an PSA are 
assigned along with the partitioned area, the authorization will be 
granted concurrently with the grant of the applications for assignment 
and transfer of the existing stations.
    (e) Subsequent to issuance of the authorization for a PSA, thee 
partitioned area will be treated as a separate protected service area.
    (f)(1) When any area within a BTA becomes a PSA, the remaining 
counties and other geopolitical subdivisions within that BTA will also 
be subsequently treated and classified as a PSA(s).
    (2) At the time a BTA is partitioned, the Commission shall cancel 
the BTA authorization initially issued and issue a PSA authorization to 
the former BTA authorization holder.
    (g) The duties and responsibilities imposed upon BTA authorization 
holders in this part and throughout the Commission's rules, such as 
Sec. 21.930(c)(1), apply to the holders of PSA authorizations.
    (h) The build-out period for PSAs voluntarily partitioned shall be 
the remainder of the five-year build-out period applicable to the BTA or 
PSA from which the PSA was drawn. For PSA authorizations issued pursuant 
to Sec. 21.930(d)(2) and the competitive bidding process, the build-out 
period is five years, beginning on the date of the grant of the PSA 
authorization. The requirements of Sec. 21.930(c)(1) also apply to the 
holders of authorizations for PSAs.
[ 60 FR 36556 , July 17, 1995]