NAB Wants Changes To Post-Repack Plan

Calling the FCC’s transition plan for stations in the spectrum repack phase following its incentive auction “flawed,” the NAB on Friday filed a petition for reconsideration, asking for revisions “to ensure that the repack treats all stakeholders, including viewers and listeners, fairly.”

The plan sets a 39-month deadline for stations to move to their new channel location. NAB says the commission has made a number of decisions that will make the transition “more complex” than it otherwise could have been:

• “The commission refused to use the $1.75 billion TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund as a budget for repacking, which could have limited the number of stations assigned to new channels.
• “The commission refused to take any steps to optimize the repacking results during the auction, which might have ensured that the ultimate repacking plan was as efficient as possible and required the fewest number of stations to move to clear required spectrum. Instead, the commission chose to optimize its repacking results only after the auction was complete, at which point the ultimate channel plan was already driven to an inefficient solution with limited ability to find alternative channels that would break daisy chains and provide for an easier and less costly repack.
• “The commission designed an overly complex reverse auction bidding mechanism, instead of asking broadcasters to name their own price in a simple sealed bid and then building the most efficient band plan possible based on broadcaster participation and bidding.
• “The commission compounded this decision by forbidding broadcasters from reentering they auction once they dropped out. Under certain circumstances, it may have been more efficient from a cost and disruption standpoint to buy certain stations rather than repack them, but the Commission elected to tie its own hands in this regard.
• “Most importantly, the commission underestimated the complexity of the repacking challenge. The commission spent years preparing for the auction while doing little or nothing to prepare for the repack. At the same time the commission was traveling around the country encouraging broadcasters to participate in the incentive auction, it should have been gathering information and developing strategies for a successful repack. Instead, the commission viewed the repack as an afterthought, and ordered staff to develop a schedule that complied with an artificial and arbitrary deadline.

NAB said the FCC “still has opportunities to craft a reasonable repacking plan and transition schedule that will protect viewers and listeners, minimize service disruptions and provide winning forward auction bidders with transparency and predictability regarding the availability of spectrum.”

It offered five suggestions on how to accomplish that:

• The commission should direct the bureau to grant reasonable requests for extensions of time.
• The commission should direct the bureau to adjust phase assignments to reflect the scope of work repacking will require.
• The commission should direct the bureau to mitigate disruption to FM stations and other broadcasters during repacking.
• The commission should require the bureau to take a proactive role in managing the repack.

The commission should direct the bureau to clarify international coordination requirements.