§ 21.932 - Forfeiture of incumbent MDS station licenses.

(a) If the license for a incumbent MDS station is forfeited, absent the filing and grant of a petition for reinstatement pursuant to § 21.44(b), the 56.33 km (35 mile) protected service area of the incumbent station shall dissolve and the protected service area shall become part of the BTA or PSA surrounding it.

(b) If upon forfeiture the protected service area of a forfeited license extends across the boundaries of more than one BTA or PSA, the portions of the protected service area of the incumbent station shall merge with the overlapping BTAs or PSAs.

(c) The holder of the authorization for the BTA or PSA with which the service area of the forfeited incumbent station has merged has the exclusive right to file a long-form application to operate a station within the merged area and may modify the locations of its stations to serve the forfeited area.