FCC Auction No. 85 will award CPs for LPTVs, Class A TVs and TV Translator digital companion channels, and it is still on the calendar for 11/5/08. The FCC had also opened a window in which parties with mutually-exclusive proposals could seek various solutions, which expired yesterday. An extension request leaving the window open through the second week of September has been turned down, but parties will be given two more weeks to negotiate. Resolutions could be in the form of settlement agreements or engineering alternatives. The National Translator Association had asked for the extension, saying that the summer months were making it difficult to get people together, especially considering the complex nature of television CP proposals. The FCC found extension request to be excessive, but determined that an additional two weeks would not disrupt the rest of the schedule, so the window will remain in effect until 8/14/08 at 6Pm Eastern.
