spectrum auction

The FCC on Thursday released a Public Notice with instructions for filing Form 177, the application for licensees of full-power and Class A TV stations to participate in the reverse auction. As a reminder, the FCC recently extended the application filing deadline, so the filing window now begins at noon Eastern Time on Dec. 8, and runs until 6 p.m. ET on Jan. 12, 2016. The auction itself, however, is still on track to begin March 29, 2016.

Ball State University could be paid up to $277 million at auction to relinquish the license of its Indianapolis PBS affiliate WIPB and take the station off the air. While $277 million is the opening bid price set by the FCC if Ball State participates in the auction — to free up frequency for wireless broadband companies — experts say it’s unrealistic to expect the university to receive that much.

Following up on Thursday’s announcement that the reverse auction application window will be delayed, the FCC is postponing its reverse auction application workshop, originally scheduled for Nov. 17. The workshop will now be held on Dec. 8, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

It makes changes to some opening bid prices, the coverage area and population data for a small number of stations, and updates files to be used in repacking and sets some new filing window dates.

The group contends that with fewer stations following the spectrum auction, the commission should shift some regulatory fees from broadcasters to wireless broadband providers whose increased presence will require greater oversight from the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.

What are the nation’s TV broadcasters going to do after they give up some of their spectrum to wireless carriers in the FCC’s upcoming incentive auction? Why, they might compete directly with those very same carriers, of course. At least, that’s how the market may shake out if the nation’s TV broadcasters adopt the new ATSC 3.0 transmission standard in the coming years.

The next time you hear Mayor Rahm Emanuel talk about the city’s financial problems, remember the deal he just turned down. In response to a suggestion here Thursday that could have netted City Colleges of Chicago a cool $474 million by auctioning off the license of its little-watched public TV station, the mayor flatly rejected the idea

Premier historically black university Howard University might sell its valuable TV airwaves now used for noncommercial WHUR Washington as a part of the FCC’s spectrum auction next year. “There is the potential for the university to realize significant income as a result of the sale of its spectrum,” Howard President Wayne A. I. Frederick said, in an Oct. 16 letter to the university community obtained by The Washington Post. “The upcoming incentive auction of television station spectrum will be a unique marketplace. It is unlikely to occur again.”

The commission releases the form stations will need to be compensated for expenses incurred during the FCC’s spectrum incentive auction. It spells out the eligible costs and details the reimbursement process..

Top executives from Comcast and Charter Communications said this week their companies are considering participating in next year’s incentive auction of 600 MHz broadcast TV spectrum. However, Time Warner Cable will not take part in the bidding. But TWC did hint that it could be open to launching a wireless service if its competitors do.

Just two weeks after its release by the FCC, the sprawling Public Notice setting out the details of how the Broadcast Incentive Auction is to be conducted has been published in the Federal Register. This triggers the 30-day period during which affected parties can seek reconsideration or review. Anyone so inclined has until Nov. 30 to get their pleadings in — but, in view of the juggernaut nature of the auction process at this point, it would probably be best not to hold out too much hope of success.

Further evidence that the FCC’s spectrum auction is ramping up, and fast: the commission has announced that it will be conducting a three-hour workshop on the reverse auction process on Nov. 17 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Representatives of the Incentive Auction Task Force, the Wireless Bureau and the Media Bureau will take attendees through a wide range of auction information covering the “pre-auction process and guidance on how to complete and submit the Form 177, including an overview of ownership requirements, channel sharing agreements and the red light rule”.

Buried within the mammoth budget deal that the White House and the Republican-led House have agreed to are provisions that would require the FCC and Department of Commerce to identify 30 MHz of government-held spectrum to be auctioned for commercial wireless use.

T-Mobile US CEO John Legere said he expects “dark horse” companies like Google, Comcast and Charter Communications to bid in next year’s incentive auction of 600 MHz broadcast TV spectrum. Legere said the next six to 12 months are going to be a “fascinating time period” in the industry as the future of the wireless market takes shape as more content goes online and more Internet traffic goes mobile.

NBC stations are “likely to participate” in the FCC’s spectrum auction — taking spectrum now used by TV stations and selling it to wireless broadband providers — Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told analysts this morning. That supports what Comcast EVP David Cohen told TVNewsCheck back in March.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler suggested that wireless carriers that are being coy about how much they will participate in next year’s incentive auction of 600 MHz broadcast TV spectrum are simply positioning themselves and trying to throw off their competitors from discerning their true intentions.

The FCC set the opening bid for the Howard University-owned noncommercial station in Washington’s spectrum at $461 million, though prices are expected to plunge during the bidding process. Howard President Wayne Frederick said: “Through the auction, there is the potential for the university to realize significant income as a result of the sale of its spectrum. The upcoming incentive auction of television station spectrum will be a unique marketplace. It is unlikely to occur again.”

It values WCBS New York at the top of its list at $900 million. ABC’s WLS is the most valuable station in Chicago at $632 million. And in Los Angeles, the top spot goes to noncommercial KVCR at $629 million.

The FCC on Thursday released nearly 300 pages of application procedures to be used for TV stations wishing to participate in the spectrum auction, as well as application procedures for those wishing to purchase that spectrum in the forward auction. Of particular interest to stations wishing to participate is the announcement that the window for filing those auction applications will run from noon ET on Dec. 1 to 6 p.m. ET on Dec. 18.

Consultants are warning public TV licensees not to put too much weight on the opening bids for next year’s spectrum auction, which the FCC is expected to release as soon as this week. John Lawson, former president of the Association of Public Television Stations, and Vincent Curren, former CPB COO, gave that advice Wednesday. Over-the-air viewership is growing, they said, and innovations in broadcast technology holds promise for new revenue models for stations that continue to broadcast over the air. In addition, the cellular carriers who will buy spectrum won’t be interested in most markets.

The FCC has explained the restrictions that apply during the incentive auction on communications by and between broadcasters (and wireless companies) that could influence the bidding in the auction. In other auction proceedings. The quiet period extends from the filing of applications evidencing an intent to participate in the auction (likely to happen this December for TV broadcasters who are interested in offering their channel for surrender the FCC) until the very end of the auction when the FCC announces the final results.

A draft of the “Spectrum Pipeline Act of 2015″ is currently circulating the House Communications Subcommittee in hopes of creating a framework for the FCC’s reclaimed wireless broadband spectrum auction. The proposed bill would ask the FCC to work with the NTIA on outlining rules and procedures for relocating federal spectrum for users, as well as band sharing for non-federal users. It would also ask the agencies to develop a timeline for bidding, but does not identify specific spectrum.

Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition founder Preston Padden says the organization has accomplished its key goals and will dissolve on Wednesday, Sept. 30. He added that in addition to avoiding collusion, the coalition was disbanding because it had achieved key objectives for broadcast-friendly auction rules.

The trade group tell the FCC: “To avoid unnecessary confusion … and to reassure broadcasters that the commission intends to treat them fairly in all aspects of the incentive auction, we respectfully request that the commission promptly clarify that stations not participating in the auction will not be treated differently than participating stations.”

Audience data indicate that two segments of the U.S. population will be hit especially hard by the upcoming FCC auction selling off television airwaves to wireless carriers: minorities, especially Latinos, and public television viewers. Where these two large groups of Americans overlap will be “ground zero” of this government-engineered shift from free, over-the-air television to a data plan near you.

The agency is being asked to do something that has never before been tried: a two-step auction of American airwaves that is intended to shift resources from broadcasters to wireless companies. If all goes according to plan, the sale could be a cash cow that earns billions of dollars for the federal treasury while helping wireless carriers meet a growing demand for data from smartphones and other devices. Success, however, is far from guaranteed.

The FCC ceded no ground to anyone with its party-line vote today on incentive auction procedures, the agency’s detailed blueprint for how it will run the auction. Despite mounting opposition by broadcasters, the wireless industry and advocates for users of unlicensed spectrum over the way the commission will reorganize the TV broadcast and wireless spectrum, the FCC voted along party lines to accept a plan that almost no one likes. The vote also officially set the date of the auction for March 29.

CBS Corp.’s Leslie Moonves and 21st Century Fox’s James Murdoch say they want to take a closer look at what the government might offer in its upcoming spectrum auction. “Spectrum presents a very great opportunity for us,” Moonves said at the annual UBS Global Media Communications Conference. “We own 27 television stations — 13 are CBS and the rest are CW or independents. When you see the numbers being thrown out there for the spectrum of a local television station — in the $200-million range — suddenly that looks pretty attractive to a CW duopoly,” Moonves said, referring to markets where CBS owns two stations.

Late Friday, the FCC released a Public Notice stating that “[e]ffective immediately, the expiration dates and construction deadlines for all outstanding unexpired construction permits for new digital low-power television and TV translator stations are hereby suspended.” The FCC simultaneously released a Third Notice of Proposed Rulemaking  seeking comment on a number of issues related to the transition of LPTV stations to digital and their fate in the post-auction spectrum repacking.

Reps. Joe Barton and Anna Eshoo especially want to know how many LPTVs and translators — which don’t have the same protections that full-power stations have in the auctions — will be able to continue operating on replacement channels after the FCC auction’s repacking of the TV band.

The future of the LPTV and Translator Preservation Act doesn’t look so bright after a leading House Democrat said it “would add unnecessary complexity” to the FCC’s incentive auction next year. “Adopting this bill will create new delay at a time when the auction framework finally appears to be coming together,” Calfornia Rep. Anna Schoo told a House subcommittee.

CPB’s Board of Directors unanimously approved a resolution Thursday urging the FCC to avoid allowing “white areas” that would lack public television coverage after the upcoming spectrum auction and channel repacking.

The FCC chairman’s contention that eliminating joint sales agreements will open up new opportunities for minority and women to become TV station owners ignores the fact that TV broadcasting is no longer a business for small operators, regardless of their gender or color. It’s a business for behemoths with negotiating clout. On the other hand, if Wheeler called off the incentive auction tomorrow, there would be all kinds of TV stations available for all kinds of buyers, including minorities and women.

Gray Television and Sinclair Broadcast Group are willing to give up channel repacking funds following the spectrum auction if that means it will let them continue innovating with other technologies outside the approved generation of ATSC, according to a letter filed with the FCC today.

The FCC wants to hear from broadcasters on how much they should be reimbursed for changing channels after a spectrum auction and channel repack. The FCC is required, under legislation, to pay broadcasters for any costs incurred as part of the repacking process.

A group of 19 Senators from both sides of the aisle want more information from the FCC about how the pending spectrum auction will deal with international coordination with Canada and Mexico and TV stations along those borders.

The LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition says the commission needs to generate more data on how the upcoming spectrum auction and band repacking will affect low-power TV stations before moving forward.

Eight agriculture and conservation organizations tell the FCC that their members “rely heavily on broadcast television for local public affairs programming, news, weather and emergency information” and are concerned that the commission’s upcoming incentive auction may leave them without access to over-the-air television.