TV channel sharing

Incentive Auction Moves Forward – Denial of Court Appeal Clears the Way for the Auction, With Procedures to be Clarified at Next Week’s FCC Meeting

By David Oxenford on July 6, 2015

Posted in Broadcast Auctions, Digital Television, Incentive Auctions/Broadband Report, Television

The FCC’s stated goal for some time has been to conduct the broadcast incentive auction in 2016 – buying the spectrum used by a number of TV stations, repackaging it and selling it to wireless companies for wireless broadband purposes. This will happen in a very complicated process where there will be two simultaneous auctions, one for TV stations bidding to surrender their channels, and a second for wireless companies looking to buy that spectrum. Only if there are sufficient bidders on both sides – enough TV stations willing to give up their spectrum to entice the wireless companies to bid, and enough wireless companies willing to bid enough to cover the costs of buying out the TV stations needed to clear the spectrum and paying the costs of many of the remaining stations to change their channels so as to clear a uniform block of spectrum nationwide – will the process be a success. The FCC adopted the general framework for the auction last year. Last month, the Court of Appeals rejected certain appeals of that Order, and the next week, the FCC denied other petitions for reconsideration of that Order – setting the stage for the auction to go forward. The FCC will, at its meeting next week, consider more detailed procedures setting out how the auction will be conducted – all looking to the auction really taking place on schedule in early 2016, with certain required filings this year (including the one due on July 9, about which we wrote here).

The FCC last month also issued orders on Channel Sharing between TV stations (where two stations can combine operations on the same 6 MHz television channel, retaining their cable carriage rights, but enabling them to sell one channel in the auction) and on setting aside a television channel in each market after the auction for unlicensed wireless uses. We will separately write about those two items – but today let’s look at the rejection of the appellate challenges to the auction framework itself, and the impact that these decisions have on broadcasters’ plans going forward.
Continue Reading Incentive Auction Moves Forward – Denial of Court Appeal Clears the Way for the Auction, With Procedures to be Clarified at Next Week’s FCC Meeting

The Latest on the TV Incentive Auction – More Regional Information Sessions by the FCC for Auction that Still Appears Targeted for 2016

By David Oxenford on April 22, 2015

Posted in Broadcast Auctions, Digital Television, Incentive Auctions/Broadband Report, Television

The FCC yesterday announced a number of new regional information sessions on the TV incentive auction, by which the FCC proposes to purchase the spectrum of some TV stations to resell that spectrum to wireless users. At these seminars, the FCC representatives will answer questions from the stations attending, and schedule private meetings with TV owners to discuss the specifics of the amounts that they will initially be offered to surrender their spectrum and other issues unique to their stations. These seminars are just part of the FCC’s efforts to hold that auction in 2016, with preliminary filings by parties interested in participating potentially due later this year.

At the recent NAB Convention, there were repeated statements by FCC officials, including the Chairman himself, that the auction is on schedule to happen next year, and these officials do not seem to be concerned that the wireless companies that will buy this spectrum have stretched their financial resources to a point that would limit their participation in a 2016 auction through their spending in the recently concluded AWS-3 auction. Instead, seemingly the only thing that would slow the auction would be an adverse result in the appeals of the auction rules filed by Sinclair Broadcasting and the NAB – appeals that have been briefed and argued in front of the US Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia. A decision in this case appeal is expected by June, although the court has no official timeline for issuing its ruling. There are other potential appeals of the FCC’s auction rules that could also play into auction timing, though this case is the most advanced. FCC statements have suggested that even an adverse result could be remedied in time for the auction to occur next year – though such optimism may depend on exactly how the court rules, if the court ultimately has concerns about the issues raised in the appeal. Otherwise, the FCC is moving forward, and we expect some clarifications of some other issues very shortly.
Continue Reading The Latest on the TV Incentive Auction – More Regional Information Sessions by the FCC for Auction that Still Appears Targeted for 2016

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