AT&T executives, telecom attorneys and professors spoke with FCC Wireless...

spectrum auctions,” an ex parte filing said (http://xrl.us/bn93x7). The group discussed the repacking assignment processes and algorithms under consideration, and sought information on the public release of data and models relating to repacking constraints. That would let AT&T and other interested parties “provide more informed comment on the proposed repacking processes and auction designs,” the filing said. AT&T emphasized that it was in the “early stages” of examining these issues, and it had not yet drawn any conclusions about which auction design would be optimal. The FCC should make sure the incentive spectrum auction’s reverse auction is simple in order to encourage small broadcasters to participate, Jim Winston, executive director of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, told agency officials in a separate meeting, a NABOB ex parte notice said (http://xrl.us/bn94e6). “Many small broadcasters will not have the resources to hire auction consultants and the process should be as straightforward as possible so that such licensees will be able to participate without hiring consultants,” the notice said. “Because there is a concern that some of the licensees inclined to sell their spectrum will be owned by minorities, the Commission should include specific policies in the auction process that encourage minority licensees to retain all or a portion of their spectrum."