DC Circuit Dismisses FAB, Word of God Repacking Challenges
The U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed petitions for review of FCC repacking policy by Free Access & Broadcast Telemedia and Word of God Fellowship for not having sufficient standing. The D.C. Circuit hasn't ruled on Mako…
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Communications' challenge of the repacking, which was heard by the three-judge panel at the same time (see 1605050052). Judges questioned the standing of FAB and Word of God during oral argument but seemed more receptive to Mako's points. Word of God isn't a party aggrieved by the repacking because it hasn't participated in the incentive auction process, said Judges Sri Srinivasan, Thomas Griffith and David Sentelle: FAB doesn't have standing because it's an investor with options in low-power TV stations, not an LPTV broadcaster itself. The law doesn't allow stockholders in companies to claim injury on behalf of the companies they own stock in -- the companies themselves must be the plaintiffs, the judges said. FAB argued that doesn't apply to it because it owns options in LPTV stations rather than stock, but the court rejected that argument. “Because Free Access has not alleged an injury that is independent of the injury suffered by the LPTV stations in which it owns options, we dismiss the petition for review,” the opinion said.