The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on a proposal to license TV incentive auction spectrum in smaller blocks than Economic Area licenses, which was proposed by the Competitive Carriers Association. CCA proposed use of Partial Economic Area licenses, bigger than Cellular Market Area licenses, but smaller than EAs. “Although a number of commenters support the Commission’s proposal to license the 600 MHz band on an EA basis, some commenters argue that EA licenses are too large for small and rural operators to obtain at auction or deploy,” the bureau said (http://bit.ly/IRKmC0). “Larger carriers express concern that it is more difficult to acquire a national or regional footprint using smaller geographic area licenses.” There are 734 U.S. CMAs, with much smaller geographic areas than the 176 EAs. Comments are due Jan. 9, replies Jan. 23.

The possibility of bidding restrictions remained a key part of the incentive auction debate as the Senate Commerce Committee quizzed witnesses Tuesday. The FCC has been urged to limit participation of AT&T and Verizon Wireless. The hearing was less than a week after FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said he would delay the auction from potentially late 2014 to mid-2015 (CD Dec 9 p1).

AT&T “would be supportive of rules around the [broadcast incentive] auction that would limit the amount of spectrum any one company could garner,” as long as “everyone is bound” to those rules, CEO Randall Stephenson said Tuesday at a UBS investor conference. “That seems like a reasonable place for us. ... The more restrictions you begin to put on the auction participants, the more it drives the value down and the more risk you have of a failed auction.”

Dish Network urged the FCC to prohibit coordinated negotiations among non-commonly owned stations, adopt a carriage dispute resolution mechanism and permit interim carriage to avoid blackouts during impasses. The commission has “broad statutory authority to implement such reforms to protect consumers and better reflect market conditions,” it said in an ex parte filing in dockets 13-225, 13-185 and 10-71 (http://bit.ly/1bSaLMU). Dish also supported auctions of 600 MHz spectrum and AWS-3 spectrum, it said. Consumers benefit from a competitive wireless landscape, and in order to preserve those benefits, “the commission must ensure that the two dominant wireless incumbents are not permitted to lock competitive carriers out of acquiring low-band spectrum,” it said.

The FCC won’t hold its broadcast incentive auction until the middle of 2015, Chairman Tom Wheeler said Friday, amid some still hoping it might take place in 2014 as once planned. Observers have worried about the timeline and long suspected it would be a stretch to hold it in 2014. Wheeler has called holding a successful auction a top priority, and several stakeholders said in interviews and written statements delay reflected a realistic view of the auction challenges.

All spectrum is important, said panelists at a Practising Law Institute session on wireless developments, but there was some disagreement over how valuable low-band spectrum is on its own. Panelists also agreed that a 180-day shot clock on merger review, proposed by FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, is a good idea, if the agency gets some flexibility to pause the clock.

Sennheiser urged the FCC to require the winners of the upcoming broadcast spectrum incentive auction to compensate the owners of wireless mic equipment that will become obsolete because of the planned spectrum repacking, the company said Wednesday. The repacking will render obsolete wireless mics and monitors that operate in the 600 MHz band, Sennheiser said (http://bit.ly/1hiZ8AQ). “The United States is the number one content creator in the world when it comes to broadcasting, film production and live events,” said Joe Ciaudelli, Sennheiser’s head of spectrum affairs, in a news release Wednesday. “The A/V professionals that produce this content, which is enjoyed by both domestic and international consumers, depend on the 600 MHz frequency spectrum each day. Now they are being told that they must vacate this UHF space, and with no contingency or recourse to recover their equipment investments.” The wireless mics won’t be able to be relocated in the lower portions of the UHF band “because it is already packed with replacement mics for ones rendered obsolete by the 700 MHz reallocation,” Ciaudelli said. “TV stations currently operating in 600 MHz will also be relocated to lower channels, exacerbating the congestion,” said the company, which petitioned the FCC Nov. 4 (http://bit.ly/IpWQBy).

The White House waded into one of the biggest issues facing the FCC and Chairman Tom Wheeler as it finalizes rules for the incentive TV auction -- whether the FCC should impose restrictions limiting bidding by Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Tom Power, deputy chief technology officer for telecommunications, said the whole administration supports a controversial April filing at the commission on spectrum aggregation and competition (CD April 15 p7) by the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. But Power also indicated that the White House wasn’t trying to tell the FCC what to do. Power spoke at a forum sponsored by the New America Foundation.

"A large majority” of the nation’s broadcasters will sit out the TV incentive spectrum auction, NAB Executive Vice President Rick Kaplan predicted Tuesday during a webinar sponsored by the Digital Policy Institute. Kaplan, a former FCC Wireless Bureau chief, also questioned why the FCC continues to push for a 2014 auction. Preston Padden, head of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, said the auction should be a success as long as the FCC gets the rules right.

ORLANDO -- The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates approved resolutions at its annual meeting Tuesday on the need for fair policies in the upcoming incentive auction and giving VoIP providers direct access to phone numbers. The IP transition dominated the telecom discussions at the NASUCA meeting, with panels on who controls the IP transition and Verizon’s Voice Link service on Fire Island, N.Y., and the New Jersey barrier islands.