[opendtv] Obama Signs Spectrum Auction Authority Bil

From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:13:12 -0600
There are two "too bads" in this:

1. Too bad the FCC has such an abysmal recent track record at understanding how 
to allow services to share spectrum without causing interference.

2. Too bad this is coming just when The People, you know, those who own the 
spectrum, have come to realize that perhaps unwalled OTA TV plus unwalled 
Internet TV make a darned good combination.

Still, at least the rhetoric here seems to be okay. We'll see whether that 
translates to actual policy.

One of the worst offenders of wasted spectrum, in this market, has recently 
taken on a valuable multicast partner network. But there are still others who 
could either improve the lot of OTA TV by making use of their spectrum, or 
double up (Univision, Fox, My20DC, for instance).

Bert

-------------------------------------
http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/obama-signs-spectrum-auction-authority-bill/212000

Deborah D. McAdams
02.23.2012 12:00AM

Obama Signs Spectrum Auction Authority Bill

$1.75 billion allocated for repacking

WASHINGTON: TV spectrum can officially go on the auction block. President Obama 
has signed the bill authorizing the Federal Communications Commission to hold 
incentive auctions to coax broadcasters to give up their piece of the airwaves. 
The ''Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012" empowers the FCC to 
"encourage a licensee to relinquish voluntarily some or all of its licensed 
spectrum usage rights" to make way for wireless broadband. Broadcasters who do 
so will get a to-be-determined portion of the auction proceeds.

The bill directs the FCC to hold a reverse auction "to determine the amount of 
compensation that each broadcast television licensee would accept in return for 
voluntarily relinquishing some or all of its broadcast television spectrum 
usage rights."

"Relinquishment" in this case has three potential meanings--giving up 
broadcasting; giving up a UHF channel in return for a VHF reassignment; or 
vacating a UHF channel to share a 6 MHz assignment with another station. For 
those stations that elect channel-sharing, the bill provides the same carriage 
rights that now apply to TV signals. Licensees that participate in reverse 
auctions will be kept confidential.

Repacking is also covered in the bill, which directs the FCC to evaluate the 
spectrum made available through auctions, to coordinate with Mexico and Canada, 
and to then repack TV channels into the remaining spectrum. The language in the 
bill gives the commission some leeway on repacking with regard to signal 
replication.

"The commission shall make all reasonable efforts to preserve, as of the 
enactment date of this act, the coverage area and population served of each 
broadcast television licensee," in accordance with the FCC's measurement model, 
the Longley-Rice method.

The bill also stresses that there be "no involuntary relocation from UHF to 
VHF." A total of $1.75 billion is to be set aside from anticipated auction 
proceeds for the channel repacking. Broadcasters who elect to forego relocation 
reimbursement can apply for a waiver of commission service rules in order to 
use the spectrum for something other than TV, as long as they're providing at 
least "one broadcast television stream... at no charge to the public." The 
commission is directed to make all reimbursements within three years of the 
completed forward auction.

Another $2 billion is designated to built out a first-responder wireless 
network on TV spectrum that failed to draw a minimum bid in 2008. The bill 
allocates spectrum, known as the D Block, for public safety, thereby taking it 
off the auction block. Up to $3 billion from anticipated proceeds is tagged for 
relocating licensees on Ch. 37, which is designated for radio astronomy. The 
government expects to end up with around $15 billion from TV spectrum auctions 
after the set-asides. The sum is already calculated into offsetting $30 billion 
to extend unemployment benefits, also covered in the bill.

The auction cycle is to be completed by 2022. If it fails to raise enough money 
to cover the set-asides, there will be no license reassignments and no 
repacking.

The auction scheme was first set forth two years ago in the National Broadband 
Plan developed by the FCC under Chairman Julius Genachowski. The plan proposed 
to reallocate 20 broadcast channels for wireless broadband. The National 
Association of Broadcasters estimated that reducing the TV spectrum by 20 
channels would knock 210 full-power stations off the air, and require 672 
full-power and 3,423 Class A and low-power broadcasters to relocate. A total of 
174 TV stations relocated during the digital transition, completed in 2009.

~Deborah D. McAdams

 
 
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[opendtv] Obama Signs Spectrum Auction Authority Bil

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