FCC Chairman nominee Tom Wheeler will play a critical role in whether the agency should impose some kind of limits on how much 600 MHz spectrum any carrier can buy in the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, said numerous industry executives and former commission officials.

Gary Epstein, head of the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force, Friday laid out in more detail than before the commission’s next steps on an incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum. Commissioner Ajit Pai warned that if the FCC doesn’t get repacking rules right, the auction could be a bust.

The FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force said the FCC plans a webinar to provide additional information about commission proposals for software to chart repacking for the auction of broadcast TV spectrum (http://fcc.us/179qyR6). The auction team is to offer commissioners an update on auction progress on Friday at the commission meeting. The FCC released basic information on the software July 22 (http://bit.ly/1evw7Mw). Industry officials said Thursday there’s still widespread confusion about the software and many questions remain. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel (CD June 28 p6) and Ajit Pai (CD July 26 p1) have both said the FCC should do all it can, including more outreach, to move toward an incentive auction next year. “T-Mobile appreciates the FCC moving forward on the broadcast incentive auction by providing important information related to repacking broadcast stations -- a key component for maximizing the amount of spectrum available and making the 600 MHz incentive auction a robust opportunity for wireless broadband,” said T-Mobile Vice President Kathleen Ham. “We're pleased the FCC is being deliberative to ensure the software necessary to support the auction and the repacking process is fully developed and understood by engaging all interested parties."

Dish Network urged the FCC to take a holistic approach to the upcoming auctions of the H block, 600 MHz spectrum and AWS-3 bands. Given the current regulatory requirements for H block and AWS-4, “we conveyed that it is unlikely Dish will choose to meaningfully participate in the upcoming auction of the H block,” it said in an ex parte filing in dockets 12-268, 12-357 and 13-185 (http://bit.ly/175HmIG). The filing recounted a meeting last week with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and her aide David Goldman. The commission’s proposal to designate the lower J block for uplink use “would make future J-block operations vulnerable to significant interference from adjacent federal government and broadcast auxiliary service users above 2025 MHz,” it said.

Claims that there’s an “industry consensus” for a 600 MHz band plan are “premature,” said Dish Network representatives in a meeting Thursday with aides to acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn, according to an ex parte filing Monday (http://bit.ly/1c7GOsF). Though AT&T and Verizon have both recommended a “Down from 51” band plan, Dish said the two companies’ plans have several differences, and the DBS provider favors a third choice, a “Down from 51 without Supplemental Downlink (SDL)” plan. Dish’s plan has “a common paired downlink and uplink block” which it said will motivate smaller carriers to participate in the incentive auction and “maximize the total revenue.” The “Down from 51 without SDL” plan would also give carriers more certainty in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) global standings setting process, Dish said. Paired uplink and downlink “facilitates the adoption of a common 3GPP band, resulting in better standards harmonization and economies of scale for handsets and other equipment,” Dish said. In the 700 MHz band, the commission shouldn’t change the authorized power levels for the lower 700 MHz E block as it adopts 700 MHz interoperability rules, Dish said. “Any changes to the service rules for the E-block post-auction will upset Dish’s legitimate, investment-backed expectations for use of this spectrum, jeopardize Dish’s investment and business plans, and may be considered an unauthorized partial revocation of Dish’s license,” said the company. It’s “unlikely” Dish will “meaningfully participate” in the H-block auction “given the current regulatory requirements for H block and AWS-4,” Dish said. Dish also said a recent commission proposal to designate the lower J block for uplink would make future operations there “vulnerable to significant interference from adjacent Federal government and Broadcast Auxiliary Service users above 2025 MHz."

European spectrum regulators are beginning to think, albeit tentatively, about whether incentive auctions could be used to allocate 700 MHz “second digital dividend” spectrum, they said. The U.K. Office of Communications (Ofcom) appears to be out ahead, having consulted earlier this year on the potential use of incentive or “overlay” auctions for the band. The EU Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG), a high-level group drawn from national spectrum authorities that advises the European Commission on spectrum policy, hasn’t addressed the issue head-on but recently published reports on spectrum for mobile broadband and long-term consideration of the future of the UHF band.

CEA continues to support a “Down from Channel 51” band plan for the 600 MHz band following the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, it told the FCC in a letter to the agency (http://bit.ly/16plhGV). CEA said it was making additional technical arguments based on “a significant amount of feedback from engineering teams at CEA’s member companies.” CEA said the FCC should: “Identify the amount of paired spectrum available in most markets nationally; For markets which can support exactly this amount, allocate the paired spectrum with an appropriate duplex gap and guard bands for DTV and Channel 37 services; For markets which can support more than this amount, allocate the additional spectrum to SDL [supplemental downlink] (with appropriate guard bands); and For constrained markets where the amount of spectrum is insufficient to support the national paired spectrum, make that spectrum available as SDL -- specifically, allocate a guard band below the 700 MHz services, then SDL, then a guard band prior to DTV or Channel 37 service allocations.” CEA said the 600 MHz band plan poses some tricky technical issues. “But these issues can be addressed through careful consideration of the costs and benefits associated with potential solutions, and a reasoned approach that respects technical realities, consumer demands and expectations in terms of end user devices, and market forces in the design and manufacture of communications infrastructure,” the group said.

Representatives of Broadway discussed the importance of protecting wireless mics in the 600 MHz band, in a meeting with members of the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force, said an ex parte filing at the commission. Among those attending was six-time Tony award winner Harvey Fierstein. “Mr. Fierstein provided a first-hand, user’s perspective on the importance of wireless microphones, intercoms, and cue-and-control devices to today’s sophisticated theatrical productions,” the ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/15gXOcl). “Audiences accustomed to high-quality sound from motion pictures and home theatres demand the same level of aural experience in a professional theatre setting. Actors can provide subtle, nuanced performances with amplified sound that are impossible if they must strain to play to the back of the house. Stage movements would be dangerous or impossible with microphone cables trailing along."

Political resolve rather than money or a dearth of other suitable federal spectrum is the major impediment to clearing the 1755-1780 MHz band of federal users, said FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai in a broad-ranging speech Thursday in Pittsburgh. Pai also called for a firm schedule for the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum.

Legislation like the 1992 Cable Act opened the door for broadcasters to make money on retrans as the number of over-the-air customers declines, Bergmayer said. “You want to look at ways to ensure that broadcasters … are not able to take this government granted privilege to just sort of leverage it … to basically drive up peoples’ cable bills,” he said. “We've seen increasing consolidation in the broadcast market,” with companies like Sinclair and Tribune “consolidating local broadcasters to increase their leverage in retransmission consent,” he said: While over-the-air broadcasting “seems like an obsolete technology, it’s as profitable as ever because of the public policies the FCC has set up in other bureaus."