FCC TV Spectrum Rulemaking Lays ‘Groundwork’ for Incentive Auctions, Genachowski Says

The FCC proposes to give Congress a written record to consult as it weighs legislation to allow the agency to auction spectrum in such a way that the government will share the proceeds with incumbent licensees, Chairman Julius Genachowski said. A rulemaking notice on TV spectrum, approved at Tuesday’s commission meeting, would also help the FCC, by giving it some technical wherewithal to hold the incentive auctions if lawmakers authorize them, he said. Genachowski spoke with reporters after the meeting, in which a rulemaking notice on experimental licensing and an inquiry on wireless spectrum innovation were approved 5-0, as expected.

It’s important to lay “the groundwork at the commission to move quickly should Congress authorize incentive auctions,” Genachowski said. The record “could be helpful to Congress as they consider the possibility” of such auctions, he added. “It is something that has been bipartisan, that should be bipartisan,” Genachowski said. “You see broad consensus on the commission itself. The ongoing proactive work that we're doing is designed to make sure we can move quickly if and when legislation is adopted."

Genachowski used the meeting in part to stump for what he called “spectrum flexibility,” so the U.S. won’t have a gap between demand for radiowaves and the supply of those available. “If we don’t act to update our spectrum policies for the 21st century, we are going to run into a wall, a spectrum crunch” that “threatens to create millions of dissatisfied mobile consumers” who “will be forced to choose between higher prices and poor service,” he said at the meeting. While Genachowski would consider spectrum leasing, “it doesn’t come close to providing the same benefits to the public as the incentive auction model,” he told reporters afterwards. “We have to find ways to free up contiguous blocks of spectrum."

Commissioner Meredith Baker is “hopeful that Congress will soon provide the commission the authority to conduct incentive auctions,” she said at the meeting. “This should be a collaborative process, and we should not begin with some preconceived notion of the end-state, Baker said, asking “all stakeholders to demonstrate a willingness to question the status quo.” She and other commissioners including Robert McDowell noted the public education and technical efforts involved in last year’s transition to digital by full-power TV broadcasters. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said she wants “careful” study of “the possible impact of removing broadcast spectrum” on “all consumers in local communities,” with “careful attention” given to “those who are most vulnerable to the loss of broadcast television.” The FCC “looked everywhere we could, and under every rock, during the DTV transition” to find ways to improve VHF reception, which is among the subjects that the TV rulemaking asks about, Commissioner Michael Copps said. He was interim chairman during the transition.

The three spectrum items were all that were voted on at the meeting, and all seemed largely along the lines of earlier staff drafts, judging by staffers’ presentations of them. The rulemaking on broadcast spectrum will propose to give wireless broadband providers equal access to TV frequencies that could be auctioned, agency officials said. “The notice seeks comment on establishing new allocations for both fixed and mobile wireless services in the TV broadcast bands,” a commission news release said. Another rulemaking notice will propose to overhaul an experimental license program to make it easier for universities and healthcare institutions to study wireless, said Chief Julius Knapp of the Office of Engineering and Technology, which wrote the three items. An inquiry “explores how we might also modify our dynamic access rules,” he said at the meeting.

Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and CEA, CTIA, Public Knowledge and Wireless Communications Association International were among those supporting the spectrum items. CEA President Gary Shapiro hailed the FCC’s actions, saying in a statement Tuesday that the commission’s proposals “will move us toward more efficient use of our nation’s spectrum.” The nation’s “spectrum crisis is real and must be addressed,” Shapiro said. “Additional spectrum for wireless broadband and unlicensed uses is crucial to our national competitiveness and the future of innovation.” But NAB, which “has no quarrel with incentive auctions that are truly voluntary,” will oppose “government-mandated signal strength degradations or limitations,” President Gordon Smith said.

The TV spectrum rulemaking asks about two or more broadcasters sharing one 6 MHz channel, “and then we ask about what’s feasible and what the trade-offs will be,” Knapp told reporters. “It’s not limited to two” stations sharing the spectrum now allotted to one broadcaster, “but obviously the more you add, the more challenges there will be to the channel sharing,” he added. The focus of the part of the rulemaking on VHF is how reception of the channels up to 13 can be improved, Knapp said. “There are tradeoffs with an increase in power. So we ask about whether an increase in power will be helpful and whether there are things we can do with antennas” that terrestrial TV viewers use indoors, he said. “The experiences that we drew from the DTV transition is that consumers don’t always realize what the marking is on their box,” such as whether an antenna can get VHF signals, Knapp said. The goal, he said, is “providing at least better information to consumers so they can make better choices.”