FCC Sets First Dates For Auction Sessions

As a part of the FCC’s outreach effort to broadcasters on the upcoming incentive auction of TV spectrum, the Incentive Auction Task Force will conduct information sessions in cities around the country between February and May to provide broadcasters with the opportunity to learn more about the auction.

The schedule of visits for February is below, beginning on Feb. 9. The schedule for future visits will be announced later. The FCC said that broadcasters “in markets where we have not scheduled an information session are encouraged to attend the closest session.”

In each city, Task Force members, along with representatives from the investment banking firm Greenhill & Co., will hold a general session to present information and address questions on the auction and the repacking process. Members of the Task Force and Greenhill representatives will also be available to meet with individual broadcasters on a confidential basis. 

Broadcasters interested in attending the general session or scheduling a confidential meeting should contact Mary Margaret Jackson at [email protected] or 202-418-3641 prior to the applicable information session.

February Broadcaster Information Session Locations and Dates

• Feb. 9: Philadelphia (also covering Harrisburg, Pa.)
• Feb. 10: Wilkes Barre-Scranton, Pa.
• Feb. 11 (general session), 12, and 13: New York (also covering Tri-State Area and Albany, N.Y.)
• Feb. 24: Nashville
• Feb. 25: Atlanta
• Feb. 26: New Orleans (also covering Hattiesburg, Miss.)

The commission said that “given the educational and informational purposes of the general sessions, including the provision of information relevant to potential participation in the auction, attendance at the general sessions will be limited to broadcasters and their representatives.

“Additionally, with the limited exception described below, attendance at a general session or individual meeting and discussions with commission personnel at the meetings regarding such matters as how the auction will work, bid options, and opening bid prices using the methodology proposed by the Commission in the recent Comment Public Notice, will not require a filing under the commission’s rules governing ex parte communications. 

“Presentations to commission personnel directed to the merits or the outcome of the matters raised in the Comment Public Notice or other pending proceedings will require the filing of an ex parte notice, but any broadcaster that must make such a filing need not disclose its identity.”