FCC Can Do More to Prepare for Incentive Auction, Rosenworcel Says
"In taking on things this monumental, it is always better to have a full complement of commissioners, but I believe we have a mandate from Congress and cannot delay,” Rosenworcel said. “We need to make progress. We need to move forward.” Rosenworcel said the FCC should hold a series of public hearings on the auction and reach out to every broadcaster in the top 30 markets nationwide. “That is where our mobile broadband needs are greatest,” she said.
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The FCC should wrap noncontroversial parts of auction rules into an order that can be approved in short order, Rosenworcel said. “Forward progress means we should assess what aspects of the auction are not really in dispute,” she said. “We should collect these issues, tee up an order, and take them off the table."
The FCC has “had well over 100 engagements” on the incentive auction, Clyburn said after the meeting. “This is a very significant item in terms of our nation’s communications future and any opportunity for robust interaction we will encourage.” Clyburn said sequester-related budget cuts mean the FCC is limited in the outreach it can do prior to the auction.
"We're poised to take several major steps in coming weeks,” Epstein said. “In the next several weeks we will release a set of repacking-related resources. They will include, one, an update to TVStudy software, two, making information about U.S. stations and Canadian and Mexican … easier to access, and, three, sample data files that may be used to interpret the scope of possible channel assignments for each U.S. TV station and the co- and adjacent-channel restraints for each station."
The task force is developing “options for the commission” on the design of auction rules, Epstein said. There are a few workshops “in the planning stage, which we'll announce pretty soon.”
"Today’s report reaffirms our confidence that a successful auction can, and will, be held in 2014,” said Preston Padden, president of The Expanding Opportunities For Broadcasters Coalition. “We are particularly grateful to the FCC Staff for resisting the idea of a ‘lowest-common-denominator’ uniform national band plan. A variable plan, perhaps by regions, can maximize the amount of spectrum reallocated and maximize auction revenues without creating harmful interference.”