Genachowski Leaving FCC Confident Incentive Auction Will Be a Success
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said work on the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum is moving forward as well as could be expected. Genachowski is pleased the agency has launched a critical debate headed into an auction that could start as early as next year, he said in an interview Friday as he prepared to leave the commission. Genachowski, a friend of President Barack Obama, chaired the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Policy Working Group during the 2008 Obama presidential campaign, and has been on the job since June 2009.
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"This discussion and debate is important -- it’s exactly what should be happening,” Genachowski said. “I see it as constructive and a sign that the community is focused on making the incentive auction work and making sure that we adopt here in the U.S. the smartest policies in the world.” He announced his plans to leave the FCC on March 22.
The Wireless Bureau was expected to circulate late Friday a public notice asking about the 600 MHz band plan following the auction. Industry and FCC officials said Thursday they are concerned about whether the auction will be a success (CD May 17 p1). “I think the fact that the community is debating a 600 MHz band plan and exactly what it should look like is a great thing for the United States,” Genachowski said. “We'll be the first country in the world to conduct an incentive auction, to free up all the spectrum. The community, stakeholders, are doing exactly what they should be doing, which is rolling up their sleeves and discussing and debating exactly what the band plan should look like. It’s an important decision because this is an opportunity … to be a global leader in developing a band plan that’s optimized for a broadband, data world."
Genachowski has been labeled the “spectrum chairman” by CEA President Gary Shapiro and others, but the FCC has not held a single major auction since the 700 MHz auction under his predecessor Kevin Martin. “When we got here, the cupboard was bare, but the airplanes are stacked up and we'll see a healthy number of auctions and a very healthy amount of spectrum coming to the market in the next few years,” Genachowski said.
Genachowski also said media ownership reform is moving forward. In a recent interview, departing Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell expressed concerns the process had moved too slowly (CD May 15 p1). Genachowski said he was pleased that the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council is wrapping up its media ownership study, which it plans to submit to the FCC in late May. That study “is designed to address some of the questions and issues that came up over the course of the proceeding,” Genachowski said. “It’s my understand that that study is nearing its completion and that will help put the commission in a position to act.” When the FCC does more “will be up to the commission,” he said.
McDowell in the same interview praised Genachowski for pushing forward changes to the USF, while noting that contribution reform remains a work in progress. “I want to acknowledge Rob McDowell for his efforts in working with me and other commissioners to get USF reform done on a bipartisan basis and to work through some of the really knotty issues that come up in a reform like that,” Genachowski said. The reforms undertaken already have required “a tremendous amount of work” by commissioners and staff “to get that work done, to create the Connect America Fund, create the Mobility Fund, reform the High Cost Fund, eliminate intercarrier compensation,” said Genachowski. “All of that I think has created a model to tackle other issues around USF, including contribution reform."
Genachowski was asked about the spate of items he has circulated in recent days as he got set to leave. “The pace of work at the commission for the last few years has been steady at a heavy level,” he said. “I don’t think that’s going to change with my departure. The commission has a lot of work to do because this is such an important sector to our economy.”
Genachowski acknowledged that the commission is a different place than it was when he served as an aide to then-Chairman Reed Hundt in the early 1990s. “The pace of technological change has increased,” said Genachowski. “The global competitiveness issues have increased. In some ways the complexities of the issues has increased. But there have been constants too. The potential of the FCC staff to meet the moment and do great work, that’s something that I bet on and I wasn’t surprised to see the great work that was done. The core objectives in this space I think remain constant. Promoting private investment and innovation, fostering competition, empowering consumers, those have remained constant."
Leaving the FCC is “bittersweet,” Genachowski said. “It’s been a special thing to have had the chance to lead this incredible agency and to have had that role during the presidency of someone I have long admired, and to have wrestle with big and exciting issues that matter to the future of our economy,” he said. “I'll certainly miss that. But I'm also looking forward to new challenges on the digital frontier, to returning to the private sector eventually.”
Meanwhile, McDowell’s FCC commissionership was to have officially ended as of 11:59 p.m. Friday. McDowell sent a letter to Obama Friday resigning and thanking him for reappointing him to the commission in 2009. “It has been the highest of honors to have served in this position for the past seven years,” the letter said.