DA 00-627

Scott R. Flick, Esq.

Fisher, Wayland, Cooper, Leader

& Zaragoza, LLP

2001 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Suite 400

Washington, DC 20006-1851

Re: KDTV License Partnership, G.P. (KDTV)

> Request for Refund of Auction Payments

For MX Group SST15 in Closed Broadcast

Auction No. 25

Dear Mr. Flick:

This letter is in response to your Petition for Refund of Auction
Payment (Petition) filed November 10, 1999, on behalf of KDTV License
Partnership, G.P. (KDTV), a subsidiary of Univision Television Group,
Inc. (Univision), the winning bidder in MX Group SST15 in the Closed
Broadcast Auction No. 25. For the reasons set forth below, we grant the
Petition.

Three mutually exclusive long-form applications were filed for secondary
television facilities in MX Group SST 15 -- KDTV's application for
Channel 28 at Santa Rosa, California, the application of The Chronicle
Publishing Company (Chronicle) for Channel 28 at Santa Rosa, and the
application of the Lake City TV Club for Channel 28 at Lakeport,
California. On July 9, 1999, the Mass Media Bureau and Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau issued a *Public Notice*, DA 99-1346 (*July
9^th^* *Public Notice*), announcing that these applicants would be
eligible to participate in an auction to begin on September 28, 1999.

The *July 9^th^ Public Notice* also stated that, in order to participate
in the auction, all applicants would have to submit a FCC Form 175
(short-form application) by the deadline of August 20, 1999. *See* *July
9^th^* *Public Notice* at 2. If only one acceptable FCC Form 175 was
received for a particular construction permit, the *Broadcast First
Report and Order* stated that the auction would be cancelled for that
construction permit. [^1] In this case, short-form applications were
submitted by Univision and Chronicle. Subsequently, the auction staff
issued a *Public Notice*, Report No. AUC-99-25-F (Auction No. 25), DA
99-1800, on September 3, 1999 (*September 3^rd^* *Public Notice*),
listing as incomplete Chronicle's short-form application. The *September
3^rd^* *Public Notice* stated that applicants with incomplete short-form
applications could become qualified to bid in the auction only if they
resubmitted complete applications by 5:30 pm on September 14, 1999*.*
Chronicle failed to correct the deficiency in its short-form
application, its application was therefore rejected, and Chronicle was
not qualified to participate in the auction. *See Public Notice*, Report
No. AUC-99-25-G (Auction No. 25), DA 99-1912, released September 17,
1999 (*September 17^th^ Public Notice)*.

KDTV maintains that Chronicle's short-form application was "defective"
and, therefore, MX Group SST15 should not have been treated as a
mutually exclusive group. KDTV also maintains that Univision's
application should have been treated as a "singleton" and should not
have been sent to auction. Instead, the application was included in the
auction, it was forced to pay an upfront payment and to submit a minimum
opening bid in the same amount. KDTV requests a refund of \$28,000.

Because Chronicle failed to cure the deficiency in its short-form
application during the designated resubmission period, its application
was never accepted for filing and was listed as rejected in the
*September 17^th^ Public Notice*. Therefore, Univision's application was
the only acceptable short-form application on file. As indicated in the
*Broadcast First Report and Order*, the application should have been
treated as a "singleton" and not sent to auction. We therefore grant
KDTV's request for refund of \$28,000.[^2]

Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, That the Petition for Refund of Auction
Payment filed by KDTV License Partnership, GP, IS GRANTED.[^3]

Sincerely,

Mark R. Bollinger

Acting Chief, Auctions and Operations Division

Wireless Telecommunications Bureau

[^1]: Implementation of Section 309(j) of the Communications Act --
    Competitive Bidding for Commercial Broadcast and Instructional
    Television Fixed Service Licenses, *First Report and Order*, MM
    Docket No. 97-234, GC Docket No. 92-52 and GEN Docket No. 90-264, 13
    FCC Rcd 15920, at 15980, ¶ 154 (1998) ("*Broadcast First Report and
    Order*").

[^2]: The refund payment will be made payable to Univision (KDTV's
    controlling general partner and the payor of the upfront payment)
    via check or in the form of an account credit. Please submit written
    instructions as to the preferred method of payment to Ms. Gail
    Glasser, Office of the Managing Director, Financial Operations
    Center, Auctions Accounting Group, 445 Twelfth Street, SW, Room
    1-A843, Washington, DC 20554

[^3]: Univision's application (File No. BPTTL-JG0601NT) for Santa Rosa,
    California, was inadvertently listed on the Auction No. 25 *Public
    Notice*, DA 00-548, released March 10, 2000. Pursuant to that
    *Public Notice*, Univision was instructed to submit a final payment
    for the Santa Rosa construction permit by March 24, 2000. This
    letter supercedes that *Public Notice* and no payment for the Santa
    Rosa construction permit is necessary. A separate *Public Notice*
    will grant KDTV's Santa Rosa application.