The FCC today dismissed the application for the sale WDRL Roanoke-Lynchburg, Va., from MNE Broadcasting to Liberty University after the parties informed the agency that they no longer wanted to move forward with the $6 million deal.

The seller, MNE Broadcasting, has no other broadcast interests. Liberty University, of Lynchburg, founded by the late televangelist Jerry Falwell, holds some low-power TV licenses.

Acccording to George Borsari, the communications attorney for MNE, Liberty was first to back out of the deal, alleging breaches to the sales contract.

That touched off litigation over money that Liberty had place in escrow when the parties signed the sales agreement a year ago.

That squabble was settled by a bankruptcy court, which cleared the way the for the letters of withdrawal from MNE and Liberty and the FCC dismissal.

Borsari said that MNE is not in bankruptcy, but the management company that had been running the station under contract, WRDL TV Inc., is.

The station is an independent with a heavy load of infomericals.

"It's still on the market," Borsari said.