RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J.-The Federal Communications Commission granted MobileMedia Corp.’s request to stay the hearing initiated by the FCC to evaluate whether the company is suitable to retain all of its paging licenses.
The hearing, originally scheduled for June 10, was postponed 10 months. MobileMedia said it requested the stay to give the company time to develop and implement a plan that would change leadership control of the company and thus “a transfer of the company’s FCC licenses.”
MobileMedia based its request on the Second Thursday doctrine, which provides that a company undergoing a change in control does not necessarily need to go through the hearing process.
The company is under scrutiny because it lied on several local paging applications. An administrative law judge was appointed earlier this year to propose to the FCC whether or not MobileMedia is fit to hold its licenses.
“The stay should remove any concerns about the FCC hearing or the impact it could have had on MobileMedia’s continuing operations,” said Joseph Bondi, the company’s chairman of restructuring. MobileMedia is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
“The stay will enable us to focus all of our attention on completing the company’s operational restructuring and in working with our creditors to achieve a consensual plan of reorganization,” added Bondi.
