NAB Challenges Parts of FCC Repacking Rules

is just starting. The Media Bureau and the Incentive Auction Task Force still don’t acknowledge “the reality that the repack will present the most challenging transition the Commission has ever overseen,” broadcasters said in a petition in docket 12-268. “Unfortunately, the Commission has made a number of decisions that will make its job, and the job of the industry, considerably harder,” NAB said. The FCC declined to use the $1.75 billion relocation fund established by Congress as a repacking budget “and instead took an unconstrained approach to repacking, desperate to clear spectrum that wireless carriers ultimately did not even want for three full stages of bidding,” NAB said. “This means that the Commission will repack far more stations than necessary, and far more than can likely be fully reimbursed. This will result in the repack taking longer, and causing considerably more viewer disruption, than might otherwise have been necessary.” The FCC should direct the Media Bureau to grant reasonable requests for more time to move to another channel, NAB said. “If the Commission actually allows its 39-month deadline to disrupt service to consumers, it will have failed in its duty to carry out an incentive auction that treats broadcasters fairly by protecting their ability to continue to provide service during and after the repack,” the petition said. “We are eager to work with the Commission to revise the transition plan to ensure that the repack treats all stakeholders, including viewers and listeners, fairly.” The FCC also should direct the Media Bureau to adjust phase assignments to reflect the scope of the work repacking will require, NAB said. The FCC already sent letters to TV stations that weren't winning bidders in the auction telling them whether they'll be repacked “and, if they are, to which transition phase they have been assigned,” the petition said. “NAB continues to believe that waiting to assign stations to phases until the Commission has a better understanding of the repack would be more efficient in the long run.” The FCC also should direct the Media Bureau to limit repacking disruptions to FM stations and other broadcasters, NAB said. FM stations, which had nothing to do with the auction, may be affected, NAB said. “If a repacked television stations adds a heavier antenna or needs to mount its antenna at a different point on the tower, it may no longer be feasible for a collocated FM station to remain at its present location on that tower or even at any location on that tower,” NAB said. “FM and other broadcast stations that are collocated or on towers adjacent to repacked television stations may be asked to reduce power levels to allow workers to perform safely the work necessary to allow those repacked stations to move to their new channels.” FM stations may have to reduce their power levels for days at a time and on multiple locations, as work continues, NAB said. The FCC should also direct the Media Bureau to provide clarity on the international implications of the repack, broadcasters said. “The Bureau has already informed stations of their new channel assignments and operating parameters, as well as their transition phase assignments,” the petition said. “If the Bureau is not in a position to state definitively whether or not the channel assignments it has provided repacked stations will or will not require coordination then the Task Force has overstated the progress the Commission has made with respect to international coordination. Repacked stations along the border deserve to know now whether or not their channel assignments will require coordination.”