In pushing for incentive spectrum auctions, “I sort of wish we had started with satellite spectrum,” rather than broadcast TV, FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker told the NAB show in Las Vegas. She participated in a Q-and-A late Tuesday with NAB President Gordon Smith. “I think that would have been a better proof of concept,” Baker said. Broadcasters “deserve more details” about what will happen if voluntary incentive auctions for TV spectrum occur, she said. “Mobile television is really starting to take off.” The agency should take a long-term view about what broadcasters will be able to do with their spectrum, she said. “I understand your frustration.” The commission should proceed with its review of media ownership rules and probably look at them in the context of its spectrum reallocation goals, Baker said. “I think they need to take into account the whole picture,” she said. “If we are going to ask a player to remove themselves from a market,” the regulator should also look at how that would implicate duopoly rules and other ownership limits, she said. The commission should also look at ways beyond spectrum auctions to spur innovation, Baker said. “We need to look at a much broader picture.” Incentive auctions should be one tool in a larger toolbox, she said. That could include giving broadcasters more technical flexibility to use advanced compression and transmission systems, she said. “MPEG-4 has a lot of promise” for broadcasting, she said. Baker also encouraged broadcasters to work with the FCC on incentive auctions. “I think these discussions shouldn’t be acrimonious, and I'm sorry it started that way.” There is some evidence to suggest that FM receivers are making their way into cellphones and consumers who want those devices will be able to get them, Baker said. “There’s some evidence that the market is working and there will be cellphones with radios.” Baker said she doesn’t support mandates that would require FM chips in cellphones.
The White House turned up the heat Wednesday on Congress to approve incentive auction legislation. It held a spectrum event at the Old Executive Office Building, complete with a speech by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and a panel of economists. The White House released a letter signed by 112 economists supporting the administration’s spectrum efforts.
The White House is scheduled to host a forum on spectrum auctions Wednesday morning. The event, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, will feature FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, as well as Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.
April 4 FCBA International Telecom Committee brown bag lunch on Internet ecosystem, 12:30 p.m., Squire Sanders, 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 500 -- http://xrl.us/bimfn6
AT&T will have a “steep climb” if it wants to take over T-Mobile, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said. “You will remember in the Comcast merger that I said at the outset that it would have been a very steep climb for me. I ended up voting against it,” he said in a videotaped interview for C-SPAN’s The Communicators. “This is maybe even a steeper climb from the standpoint of a lot of power, a lot of influence given to one company in a world where two companies are going to control, like, 80 percent of the spectrum.” Copps worries about “what residue of competition will be left if the merger is approved,” what impact it will have on U.S. jobs and whether the bulk of the proceeds will flow into Europe’s telecom market, he said. T-Mobile’s parent is based in Germany.
An auction of TV spectrum may not raise as much money for the U.S. government and the incumbent broadcast licensees as some incentive auction proponents estimate, said an economist’s paper released Thursday by the NAB. The title of the paper by Managing Director Jeffrey Eisenach of Navigant Economics is: “Revenues From a Possible Incentive Auction: Why the CTIA/CEA Estimate is Not Reliable.” Those two groups’ estimate of winning bids of at least $33 billion to $34 billion (CD Feb 16 p7) is “based on historic spectrum prices, which are subject to wide variation,” it said.
A recent audit that criticized the FCC for not following federal guidelines on tracking public spending (CD March 28 p11) “may come up” when Chairman Julius Genachowski testifies before a House appropriations subcommittee, said a spokesman for Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo. The chairman of the subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government “is aware of the situation,” her spokesman said. Managers at both the FCC and the Universal Service Administrative Co. were recently ordered to “update and reinforce” rules for entering expenses into the federal accounting system, after outside auditors labeled the commission’s accounting system “a significant deficiency."
The Communication Workers of America union’s support for AT&T’s purchase of T-Mobile may prove pivotal to approval of the deal, industry lobbyists said at CTIA’s annual meeting, which ended Thursday. The union’s support offers cover for Democrats on Capitol Hill and in the administration to support the purchase, industry officials said. CWA praised the merger Sunday, right after it was announced, calling it “a victory for broadband proponents in both the U.S. and Germany.”
The spectrum inventory discussed by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Wednesday likely won’t satisfy calls on Capitol Hill for a more exhaustive inventory, industry and FCC officials said Thursday. An official in the chairman’s office clarified that Genachowski was referring to the extensive research the commission did as reflected in its LicenseView and Spectrum Dashboard initiatives when he discussed the FCC inventory Wednesday (CD March 17 p1). The official said different bills proposed in Congress differ on what would constitute an inventory. “The broadcasters are really pushing the need for an inventory before anything happens” and the inventory unveiled by Genachowski probably won’t fit that bill, a second FCC official said.
Peter Cramton, an expert on spectrum auctions, said Friday he is “optimistic” about the outlook for a voluntary incentive auction. The key to attracting wireless industry interest, he said, is forcing broadcasters to repack their spectrum to make it valuable in multiple markets, he said at a Media Access Project conference.