United States Third Circuit
Council Tree Communications, Inc. v. Fed. Communications Comm'n, 08-2036
A petition for review of multiple orders in FCC rulemaking in which the FCC changed the qualifications for designated entities (DE) status as well as the restitution that must be made by a licensee that loses DE status after taking advantage of bidding credits, is denied in part, granted in part, vacated in part and remanded where: 1) the petition is denied with respect to the attributable-material-relationship rule articulated in 47 C.F.R. section 1.2110(b)(1) and (b)(3)(iv)(B) as the FCC's 25% attribution rule was promulgated after the public notice and opportunity to comment required by the APA; 2) the petition is granted with respect to the impermissible material relationship rule contained in 47 C.F.R. section 1.2110(b)(3)(iv)(A) and the 10 year-hold rule contained in 47 C.F.R. section 1.2111(d)(2)(i), vacated and remanded as the 50% impermissible-relationship rule and the 10-year bidding-credit repayment schedule was promulgated without the requisite notice and opportunity to comment.
Appellate Information
- Argued 12/01/2009
- Decided 08/24/2010
- Published 08/24/2010
Judges
Court
- United States Third Circuit
Counsel
- For Appellant:
- Dennis P. Corbett, Joseph R. Palmore