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FCC Authorizes TV Channel Sharing in Preparation for Spectrum Auctions

Posted on May 1, 2012
Posted in Broadcast Auctions, Digital Television, Low Power Television/Class A TV, Television

The FCC has released the text of its Report and Order adopted last week, authorizing full power and Class A TV stations to share spectrum as part of the band clearing process for future wireless broadband spectrum auctions.  This action was authorized by Congress in the Spectrum Act, which became law in February as part of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012.  We summarized the Spectrum Act in a previous blog available here.

The Report and Order allows full power and Class A TV stations to enter into agreements whereby two stations will share one six MHz channel, thereby allowing one station to return its existing channel to the FCC for cancellation and availability in the upcoming spectrum auctions.  Presumably, one six MHz channel is sufficient bandwidth to support two HD channels.  In the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for this proceeding, the FCC said it would let the sharing stations decide how much bandwidth each station would get.

The station giving up its channel would be entitled to compensation in the so-called "reverse auction" to be held by the FCC, subject to receipt of compensation deemed acceptable by the licensee.  Presumably, that compensation would be shared with the station giving up part of its 6 MHz band to allow the two stations to share that bandwidth.  The amount of compensation each station would get would likely be determined in their sharing agreement.…

Continue Reading FCC Authorizes TV Channel Sharing in Preparation for Spectrum Auctions

The Future of the Broadcast Media – As the FCC Meeting Next Week Considers What to Do With the TV Spectrum

By David Oxenford on November 26, 2010
Posted in Digital Radio, Digital Television, General FCC, Incentive Auctions/Broadband Report, Television

After Thanksgiving – everyone’s thoughts turn to technology policy.  Well, maybe not everyone, but reading Thursday’s New York Times, David Pogue wrote his column celebrating his 10th anniversary in the paper with observations about truths that he has discovered about the technology world.  Many of those same truths apply to broadcast policy, and are particularly relevant with a week coming up in which the FCC may take its first steps toward dramatically reshaping the media landscape as it considers the future of the television spectrum, and potentially repurposing some of that spectrum for wireless broadband.  Pogue’s first observation was that new technology does not replace old technology – instead it merely provides more choice to the consumer.  He points out that TV did not replace radio, and that satellite radio didn’t replace radio either.  Instead, these services became complements, perhaps eroding the audience of the established technology in some ways, and perhaps making the older technology redefine its mission, but the older technology survived, and remained relevant.  We’ve written similar observations about the future of radio – it’s a technology that reaches masses with no incremental costs for adding new listeners – and is now and, for the foreseeable future will be, the most efficient way to reach large audiences with popular formats.

It is a similar story with other communications media.  And we sometimes over-react to short term trends believing that some audience erosion for a particular technology will result in its doom, when in fact it may just result in some form of re-invention.  In the last two years, we’ve seen print media go from being left for dead, to being part of one of the most talked about media deals of the last month – the merger between the Daily Beast and Newsweek to bring a print component to a new media darling.  Television, too, is not dead yet – it still the most watched source of video programming, whether distributed over the air or through some multichannel video transmission source, with over-the-air programming about to get a new take as mobile DTV begins its roll-out in the coming months. Recently, there has even been the occasional article about consumers "cutting the cord" – relying on over-the-air TV, supplemented by web video content, to drop their cable or satellite connection.  As Pogue suggests, all these media will continue to survive and offer choices to consumers.  But Pogue does not take into account the potential impact of a fundamental change in regulatory policy that intervenes to disrupt the natural progression of the marketplace.…

Continue Reading The Future of the Broadcast Media – As the FCC Meeting Next Week Considers What to Do With the TV Spectrum

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Photo of David OxenfordDavid OxenfordPartner

David Oxenford represents broadcasting and digital media companies in connection with regulatory, transactional and intellectual property issues. He has represented broadcasters and webcasters before the…

David Oxenford represents broadcasting and digital media companies in connection with regulatory, transactional and intellectual property issues. He has represented broadcasters and webcasters before the Federal Communications Commission, the Copyright Royalty Board, courts and other government agencies for over 30 years.

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David is a partner at the law firm of Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP, practicing out of its Washington, DC office. He has represented broadcasters for over 30 years on a wide array of matters from the negotiation and structuring of station purchase and sale agreements to regulatory matters. His regulatory expertise includes all areas of broadcast law including the FCC’s multiple ownership limitations, the political broadcasting rules, EEO policy, advertising issues, and other programming matters and FCC technical rules.

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