FCC: Repack Won’t Force Stations Off Air

Under questioning at a congressional oversight hearing today, all five FCC commissioners vowed they would not force any broadcaster off the air for failing to meet the 39-month deadline for moving to new channels after next year’s incentive auction.

If meeting the deadline becomes a problem, Chairman Tom Wheeler said, the FCC will “work it out” with the broadcasters. “This is not a drop-off-the-edge-of-the-table situation…. I totally agree on the importance of local community broadcasting and why it has to remain after the auction.”

Concern about the deadline is growing. Last week, a study commissioned by the NAB concluded that the so-called repacking of the TV band could take anywhere from eight to 11 years, given current estimates of how many stations will have to be moved, and the limited RF equipment and services available to accomplish that task.

The commissioners appeared before the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee. The repacking deadline was brought up twice — first by Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) and then by Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.).

“I know how critical it is to get spectrum into the market,” said Matsui. “But we need to make sure this transition doesn’t leave TV viewers in the dark.”

Kinzinger also asked what would happen if the $1.75 billion that Congress set aside for reimbursing broadcasters for moving to new channels proved insufficient.

Wheeler stopped short of saying the FCC would ask for more money. But, he said, the FCC may come back to Congress and say: “Hey, there were some judgment calls here that didn’t work out.”

He also said that he did not feel comfortable, in the case of a shortfall, giving some broadcasters more money than others.

“I don’t want to get in a situation where you are picking and choosing. That’s not the job of this agency. I do want to be in the situation of adhering to the law, which is 1.75.”

Wheeler also noted that the NAB originally told the FCC that the repack should take only 30 months.

In a statement following the hearing, NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said that in January 2013 it told the FCC that the repack would take at least 30 months, assuming that only 400-500 stations would have be repacked.

“Since that time, three things have happened,” Wharton said. “First, the FCC has released repacking simulations suggesting that well over 1,000 stations (more than twice as many as anyone anticipated) could need to move. Second, the FCC adopted a hard deadline for all stations to move, which surprisingly would force them off the air regardless of circumstances. Third, NAB undertook a study earlier this year — the first of its kind — that analyzed how long it would take to conduct a nationwide repack.”

Wheeler also confirmed that he would not be moving ahead immediately with redefining online video distributors as cable and satellite operators or with eliminating the network and syndication exclusivity rules. He said he would fold the latter into the retransmission consent reform proceeding. “That’s the appropriate place to address it.”