NAB and T-Mobile added their voices to low-power TV concerns about “phase zero” stations that will get bumped from their spectrum long before they can move to displacement channels, and LPTV industry officials told us FCC action on the matter is now more likely. The post-repacking displacement window for LPTV and translators isn’t likely to open until 2018, NAB said. “In the meantime, if a new 600 MHz licensee provides its 120-day notice and displaces LPTV or translator stations, those stations will have no opportunity to remain on the air using an alternate channel,” said the letter in docket 16-306. “This outcome effectively defeats the stated purpose of the displacement window.” In a May 30 meeting with the Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau staff, T-Mobile said the FCC should “develop effective and flexible procedures for accommodating the needs of broadcasters impacted by the deployment of 600 MHz broadband services,”

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Analysts at a Wireless Infrastructure Association conference last week saw general optimism among tower companies about the future of the infrastructure industry as a result of the TV incentive auction, FirstNet, 5G and the IoT. Executives generally agreed.

The solution to increasingly congested Wi-Fi networks in dense urban areas lies primarily in middle-band spectrum, particularly in the 5.9 GHz band and potentially the 6 GHz band, said Wi-Fi Alliance CEO Ed Figueroa Wednesday. Having 80 MHz and 160 MHz channels is paramount, but that kind of channelization is tough to find in low bands, while high-frequency bands carry propagation limitations, he said at a Microsoft/New America’s Wireless Future Project panel.

The FCC needs to provide relief for low-power TV stations in danger of getting bumped from their spectrum long before the post-incentive auction displacement window intended to find them a new home takes place, said the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition in a letter Tuesday to the Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau staff. Without some sort of action, “whole communities could go dark,” said coalition Executive Director Mike Gravino in an interview. Unless the FCC provides some accommodation for what Gravino calls “phase zero” stations, a court battle that would slow the repacking effort is likely, he said.

ORLANDO -- The FCC may have to consider tinkering with the 39-month time frame for broadcasters to clear the 600 MHz band so carriers can start to use the spectrum they bought in the TV incentive auction, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told the Wireless Infrastructure Association. O’Rielly said the outlook is improving for a new, lighter-handed regulation, but change comes hard in Washington.

American Tower faces both challenges and opportunities, a Macquarie Capital analyst wrote investors Monday after meeting with Chief Financial Officer Tom Bartlett. "Though its expansive international presence is clearly a standout, the domestic tailwinds are now just as great,” Amy Yong emailed. “Areas of upside include FirstNet, 600 MHz spectrum deployment, and an expanding wireless industry that could include” Dish Network-Amazon, cable and IoT, Macquarie said. A Sprint/T-Mobile could prove positive long-term for the tower company, Macquarie said: "Management noted that previous mergers have actually resulted in 20-25 percent greater activity” from the new company. On FirstNet, AT&T’s infrastructure investments likely will come mostly next year, but could start later this year, after AT&T won the contract to build the network, the firm wrote.

The FCC approved for filing the long-form applications of a first round of 600 MHz licenses bought by companies in the TV incentive auction. The notice moves licensees another step closer to being able to begin operations in the band, as the post-incentive auction transition gets underway. The FCC said other applications will be addressed in later notices. The licenses include many purchased by T-Mobile, Dish Network through ParkerB.com, Comcast through CC Wireless Investment, and AT&T. Other parties can file petitions to deny the grant of the licenses, but must do so by May 30, the public notice said. The Incentive Auction Task Force and the Wireless Bureau released the notice. Meanwhile, stations that will be changing channels during repacking but aren’t eligible for reimbursement will need to file progress reports the same as stations that can be reimbursed, said the FCC Media Bureau and IATF in a PN. Nonreimbursable stations include band changing stations, stations that “accept a waiver of the Commission’s service rules to allow them to make flexible use of their reassigned spectrum to provide services other than broadcast television services in lieu of receiving reimbursement” and a small number of Class A's, the PN said. Requiring all broadcasters changing channels to file will give the FCC and the wireless and broadcast industries a more complete picture of the progress of the post-incentive auction transition, it said. The filing “will permit the Commission, broadcasters, and other interested parties to get a snapshot of progress at regular intervals and critical periods within each transition phase,” the PN said. IATF released a user guide for the commission registration system (Cores) incentive auction financial module. Full-power stations, Class A broadcasters and MVPDs that “anticipate receiving incentive and/or reimbursement payment(s) following the incentive auction” must “use the Financial Module to submit bank account information electronically,” the PN said. The user guide is available on the auction website.

Broadcasters are paying a huge price for supposed demand for low-band spectrum that never materialized in the TV incentive auction, said Preston Padden, who advised broadcasters in the auction, at a Duke Law School conference Friday. Padden said the auction was inefficient on several levels, with 42 MHz of “pristine” 600 MHz going unsold.

TV broadcasters want the FCC to handle ATSC 3.0 with a “light regulatory touch.” MVPDs, wireless entities, consumer groups and NPR urged the agency to protect retransmission negotiations, unlicensed spectrum, radio and the post-incentive auction repacking from the transition to the new television standard, in comments filed Tuesday in docket 16-142 (see 1705090053). The FCC should “expeditiously adopt only those minimal regulations necessary to permit broadcasters to voluntarily implement ATSC 3.0 transmissions,” said Nexstar. The transition to the new standard “threatens to compound disruption in the industry and to the public,” said NCTA.

Verizon is looking for more high-frequency spectrum for 5G in the secondary market, CEO Lowell McAdam said as the carrier met analysts. McAdam said Verizon doesn’t need additional low-band spectrum for 5G. The FCC has said it will hold two millimeter-wave auctions, McAdam said. “We’re obviously working closely with [the FCC] to accelerate” the time frame, he said Monday evening. “The activity that we’re spurred over the last couple of years has gotten the FCC to see there’s a lot of investment pent up to be made here.”