Court Consolidates NAB Auction Challenge With Other Auction Petitions

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted an unopposed NAB motion to consolidate its challenge of the FCC incentive auction order with a separate challenge against a Sept. 30 FCC declaratory ruling “clarifying” that order, according to court filings. The petition for review of the declaratory ruling was filed by NAB Wednesday. The declaratory ruling, approved at the FCC September meeting, said the commission intended to "preserve the `coverage area' as well as the `population served' of eligible broadcasters." Since the ruling says the FCC won't protect broadcaster coverage areas that are subject to interference, it violates the Spectrum Act, NAB said. The ruling was also not adopted with proper notice and comment periods, violating the Administrative Procedure Act, NAB said. In its motion to consolidate, NAB argued the case should be combined with the petition against the auction order to allow it to use the same expedited schedule.