Form 2100, Schedule 381 – Getting There Is Half the Fun!

Want to file your Schedule 381 but not sure how to get there? Just follow us"

We have previously reported that TV stations included on the FCC's Eligibility List have got to file Form 2100, Schedule 381 (official name: "Pre-Auction Technical Certification Form") by July 9, which is right around the corner. Now we have received a query from one of our readers, asking how to go about submitting the form - as our reader notes, "[t]he instructions don't say how or where to file."

This is a job for CommLawBlog.

Schedule 381 must be filed electronically through the FCC's relatively new Licensing and Management System (LMS). You can get to LMS at this link. When you get there it should look like this:To get in the door, fill in the FCC Registration Number (FRN) and related password in the blanks in the upper right corner of the screen and click on the "Log In" button.

If your FRN happens to be associated with one or more stations that have multiple FRNs, the system will show you the "Select FRN of Record" screen and ask you to pick one FRN to use for each station currently associated with more than one FRN. (Hopefully obvious and unnecessary observation: we have blurred out the station-specific information in all these images.)

(If the station for which you're filing the Schedule 381 isn't listed on this intro screen, that means that that station is already associated exclusively with the FRN you used to get into LMS in the first place. In that case, you can scoot past this screen by simply clicking on the "Save and Continue" button.)

Once you've got that little detail worked out, the next screen you see should look like this:

If you have more than one station associated with this particular FRN, you should use the drop-down menu to pick the Facility ID Number of the station you're filing for. (If only one station is associated with that FRN, you shouldn't have to worry about this screen.)

After you choose the Facility ID Number you're working with, click on the "Authorizations" button in the upper left-hand corner. That should get you to the "Active Authorizations" screen that looks like this:

In the File Numbers column, find the file number that corresponds to the "license file number" for the station listed in Appendix A to the FCC's June 9 Eligibility Public Notice. Clicking on that file number should take you to a "DTV License" screen that looks like this:

Now click on the blue "File an Application" button, which will drop down a menu that includes an option for "Schedule 381 Certification". Click on that and voili - the starting screen for Form 2100, Schedule 381:

Unlike the path to get to the form, completing the form is relatively straightforward. Folks familiar with CDBS will note that LMS offers no "validation" or "test file" options. Essentially, the system tells you if you have omitted any necessary responses and won't let you file until the application is complete.

Good luck!