Broadcasters Showing Lots of Interest in TV Incentive Auction, FCC Chief Says
LAS VEGAS -- Broadcasters will come to the table to offer spectrum in next year’s TV incentive auction, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told CTIA Wednesday at its convention. Wheeler also said, emphatically, the FCC has a plan for making more spectrum available for mobile broadband. “I’ve talked to most of the CEOs of major broadcast organizations and I think they’re going to show up” for the incentive auction, Wheeler said.
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Wheeler said he met this week with James Murdoch, new CEO of 21st Century Fox. “We had a fascinating discussion about how the broadcast business has changed and there’s an opportunity there,” he said. “The consumers won’t see any impact at all.” Wheeler said he expects some nontraditional players to bid in the auction. “There are a lot of people looking at what they could do with the properties, the physics” of the 600 MHz spectrum sold in the incentive auction.
"Fox is just one example of a ‘sea change’ in broadcaster intentions to participate in the auction and that change means the FCC will clear at least 126 MHz,” Preston Padden, executive director Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, emailed us after Wheeler spoke.
“This is a big deal,” Wheeler said of the incentive auction. “This has never been done before.” He predicted the auction will be over by the time CTIA meets next September. Wheeler said the FCC will release a schedule public notice for the auction in October, with broadcasters being offered a chance to sell their spectrum in late November, though they can later change their minds, he said. “This is on a glide path,” he said.
CTIA President Meredith Baker stressed the importance of spectrum at the opening session of the convention. The U.S. will need more than 350 MHz to meet the demand projected for 2020, she said. “The first step is next year’s broadcast auction,” she said. “After that, there is no plan. No auction on the books, no bands in the pipeline.” Wheeler, who spoke after Baker, disagreed with her. Wheeler was president of CTIA a decade before he became chairman of the FCC. “There is a plan,” he said. “We’ve heard the message.”
Wheeler also took on Baker and CTIA on net neutrality, the biggest topic at last year’s conference as the FCC was developing its net neutrality rules (see 1409100089). Wheeler said he's “confident” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will uphold the rules, despite the challenge from CTIA and other industry players. “Meredith just told us about tens of billions of dollars that this industry is going to invest,” Wheeler said. The net neutrality rules are “in effect now,” he said. “The investment has continued.”
Five years ago, the U.S. made a national commitment to freeing up more spectrum, Baker said. “Since then, we’ve benefited from auctions and reallocations. That’s helped and that’s why we lead the world,” she said. “Today, we need a national re-commitment for more spectrum to serve as our bridge to 5G. For everyone here to succeed, we need more spectrum. And that’s why spectrum is CTIA’s top priority.”
Bluegrass Cellular President Ron Smith took the stage to emphasize the importance of complete national coverage. “Our industry thrives with a mix of national and regional operators,” he said. “We need that mix in order to reach all Americans with LTE. In a healthy wireless industry there is a need for carriers of all sizes." Smith said his company launched 25 years ago, with one employee and seven customers, as the first wireless network in central Kentucky. “We are more than a network, we are a community,” he said.
Jimmy Wales, a founder of Wikipedia, who also spoke during the opening session, said the free, online encyclopedia remains completely blocked in China. “We are beginning to approach” Chinese officials to start a discussion, Wales said. In the past, the Chinese government has closed down access to the site, but then unblocked it, often without much explanation, he said. Wikipedia was one of the most popular websites in China before it was blocked, he said.
“We have a very strong principle that we never cooperate with government censorship,” Wales said. Chinese officials want to censor political information, anything about Taiwan and anything about the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, he said. Some people are using their smartphones to contribute to Wikipedia in the U.S. and elsewhere, which is difficult, Wales conceded, because the screen on a phone is relatively small. “But people are doing it and we’re trying to make the experience as good as we possibly can,” he said.