§  1.2205   Prohibition of certain communications.

   (a) Definitions. (1) For the purposes of this section, a full power
   broadcast television licensee, or a Class A broadcast television
   licensee, shall include all controlling interests in the licensee, and
   all officers, directors, and governing board members of the licensee.

   (2) For the purposes of this section, the term forward auction
   applicant is defined the same as the term applicant is defined in
   § 1.2105(c)(5).

   (b) Certain communications prohibited. (1) Except as provided in
   paragraph (b)(2) of this section, in the broadcast television spectrum
   incentive auction conducted under section 6403 of the Spectrum Act,
   beginning on the deadline for submitting applications to participate in
   the reverse auction and until the results of the incentive auction are
   announced by public notice, all full power and Class A broadcast
   television licensees are prohibited from communicating directly or
   indirectly any incentive auction applicant's bids or bidding strategies
   to any other full power or Class A broadcast television licensee or to
   any forward auction applicant.

   (2) The prohibition described in paragraph (b)(1) of this section does
   not apply to the following:

   (i) Communications between full power or Class A broadcast television
   licensees if they share a common controlling interest, director,
   officer, or governing board member as of the deadline for submitting
   applications to participate in the reverse auction;

   (ii) Communications between a forward auction applicant and a full
   power or Class A broadcast television licensee if a controlling
   interest, director, officer, or holder of any 10 percent or greater
   ownership interest in the forward auction applicant, as of the deadline
   for submitting short-form applications to participate in the forward
   auction, is also a controlling interest, director, officer, or
   governing board member of the full power or Class A broadcast
   television licensee, as of the deadline for submitting applications to
   participate in the reverse auction; and

   (iii) Communications regarding reverse auction applicants' (but not
   forward auction applicants') bids and bidding strategies between
   parties to a channel sharing agreement executed prior to the deadline
   for submitting applications to participate in the reverse auction and
   disclosed on a reverse auction application.

   (c) Duty to report potentially prohibited communications. A party that
   makes or receives a communication prohibited under paragraph (b) of
   this section shall report such communication in writing immediately,
   and in any case no later than five business days after the
   communication occurs. A party's obligation to make such a report
   continues until the report has been made.

   (d) Procedures for reporting potentially prohibited communications.
   Reports under paragraph (c) of this section shall be filed as directed
   in public notices detailing procedures for bidding in the incentive
   auction. If no public notice provides direction, the party making the
   report shall do so in writing to the Chief of the Auctions and Spectrum
   Access Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, by the most
   expeditious means available, including electronic transmission such as
   email.

   (e) Violations. A party who is found to have violated the antitrust
   laws or the Commission's rules in connection with its participation in
   the competitive bidding process, in addition to any other applicable
   sanctions, may be subject to forfeiture of its winning bid incentive
   payment and revocation of its licenses, where applicable, and may be
   prohibited from participating in future auctions.

   Note 1 to § 1.2205: References to “full power broadcast television
   licensees” and “Class A broadcast television licensees” are intended to
   include all broadcast television licensees that are or could become
   eligible to participate in the reverse auction, including broadcast
   television licensees that may be parties to a channel sharing
   agreement.

   Note 2 to § 1.2205: For the purposes of this section, “controlling
   interests” include individuals or entities with positive or negative de
   jure or de facto control of the licensee. De jure control includes
   holding 50 percent or more of the voting stock of a corporation or
   holding a general partnership interest in a partnership. Ownership
   interests that are held indirectly by any party through one or more
   intervening corporations may be determined by successive multiplication
   of the ownership percentages for each link in the vertical ownership
   chain and application of the relevant attribution benchmark to the
   resulting product, except that if the ownership percentage for an
   interest in any link in the chain meets or exceeds 50 percent or
   represents actual control, it may be treated as if it were a 100
   percent interest. De facto control is determined on a case-by-case
   basis. Examples of de facto control include constituting or appointing
   50 percent or more of the board of directors or management committee;
   having authority to appoint, promote, demote, and fire senior
   executives that control the day-to-day activities of the licensee; or
   playing an integral role in management decisions.

   Note 3 to § 1.2205: The prohibition described in § 1.2205(b)(1) applies
   to controlling interests, officers, directors, and governing board
   members of a full power or Class A broadcast television licensee as of
   the deadline for submitting applications to participate in the reverse
   auction, and any additional such parties at any subsequent point prior
   to the announcement by public notice of the results of the incentive
   auction. Thus, if, for example, a full power or Class A broadcast
   television licensee appoints a new officer after the application
   deadline, that new officer would be subject to the prohibition in
   § 1.2205(b)(1), but would not be included within the exceptions
   described in § § 1.2205(b)(2)(i) and (ii).

   [ 79 FR 48530 , Aug. 15, 2014, as amended at  80 FR 56816 , Sept. 18, 2015]