FCC Going Door To Door With Auction Pitch

Hoping to ramp up broadcast participation in the FCC’s incentive auction next year, agency officials are planning to start reaching out to individual broadcasters, agency officials announced today.

The FCC officials did not say specifically when the one-on-one sessions would begin — or which TV stations will be targeted first. But during an FCC meeting in Washington, agency executives said the one-on-one sessions were critical to trying to persuade balking broadcasters to play ball in an auction intended to repurpose broadcast spectrum for smartphones and other wireless devices.

“We do not want to hold a party and have nobody show up, so our outreach to broadcasters must be more than broad,” said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat. “One-to-one outreach is essential.”

“We completely agree that broadcaster participation is a key to the whole auction,” added Gary Epstein, chair of the FCC’s incentive auction task force.

Epstein said that the one-on-one sessions would begin before the agency adopts the auction rules this spring. “We do not intend to wait for [the rules to be adopted] to ratchet up an increased targeted individual broadcaster effort,” he said.

The one-on-one sessions are likely to strike a raw nerve in some broadcasters because they need to get their licenses renewed and their station acquisitions approved by the agency, according to one broadcast industry source.

“These are the guys [FCC officials] who can regulate you out of business if you don’t play ball with them,” the source said.

Also during the meeting, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, a Republican, suggested that the agency partner with the National Association of Broadcasters, “somebody broadcasters trust,” to help the agency pitch the auctions to broadcasters.

In addition, Pai said the agency should pull the plug on any plans to change the agency’s regulations on joint sales and shared services agreements.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has publicly said that he wants the agency to beef up its scrutiny of the sharing arrangements.

JSAs and SSAs, which allow broadcasters to save money by sharing costs, have been routinely approved by the agency in the past.

“Targeting JSAs and SSAs could harm the FCC’s relationship with broadcasters at the very time we need their cooperation in order to make the incentive auction a success,” Pai said. “I strongly oppose regulatory ratchets designed to pressure broadcasters into participating in the incentive auction.”

Pai also recommended that the FCC tell broadcasters “as quickly as possible” how much money they might be able to get from participating in the auctions. “We need to turn the abstract concept of the incentive into the concrete reality of cash,” he said.

Said Dennis Wharton, an NAB spokesman, in response: “We wholeheartedly support the FCC’s incentive auction process and agree with Commissioner Pai that NAB can play a valuable role, if called upon. We also appreciate Commissioner Pai making it clear that the FCC should not use other broadcast-related proceedings to persuade TV broadcasters to relinquish spectrum in the incentive auction. As Congress made clear, the incentive auction should be completely voluntary and broadcasters should not be coerced into participating in any manner.”

Preston Padden, executive director of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, representing stations considering participating in the auction, said: “We commend the hardworking and transparent auction task force on an excellent and informative progress report.  If the commission meets the price expectations of willing sellers, this voluntary auction will be a great success.”

Also today, the FCC announced that Howard Symons, a former attorney with the law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, had been named vice chair of the incentive auction task force. Symons was previously an attorney for the House telecommunications subcommittee.