The FCC won't have to auction construction permits (CPs) for low power TV stations and translators to the highest bidder after all.
The commission had scheduled Auction 104 to resolve mutually exclusive applications for such permits from any LPTV or translator displaced in the post-broadcast incentive auction transition.
Related: Legislators Praise Handling of Repack
Neither LPTVs nor translators, which extend TV station signals to hard-to-reach areas, were protected in the repack.
Stations with mutually exclusive applications were allowed to resolve the issue on their own and submit settlement agreements up until a July 22 deadline.
Related: LPTVs, FMs Get $150 Million in Repack Bucks
The FCC said that its Video Division has approved either requests to dismiss the CP applications for all the available permits, thus there is no need for an auction.
The repack of close to 1,000 stations is scheduled to be completed in less than a year (the last deadline for the 10-phase transition is July 3, 2020.
