Incentive Auction Update – Another Stay Request Makes it to the D.C. Circuit

We have previously reported that one party (Latina Broadcasters of Daytona Beach, LLC) has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to stay either (a) the exclusion of Latina's application from the upcoming reverse auction) or (b) the reverse auction itself. And now the Videohouse Three (about whose appeal we have also reported) have filed their own separate stay request.

And, as happened on the Latina side, the court has issued an order on its own motion calling for an expedited briefing schedule relative to the latest stay request. The motion was filed on March 3; that same afternoon, the court ordered the FCC to respond by March 8, with the Videohouse Three able to reply by the following day. In other words, the pleading cycle will close less than a week after it was opened.

The Videohouse Three have asked the court to rule by March 11, the same target date Latina requested. The court, of course, is not obligated to meet that deadline, but certainly the expedited briefing schedules in both cases are intended to let the court act quickly.

Check back here for updates.