Rep. Walden Floats Voluntary Auction Bill

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) today formally unveiled legislation that would, among other things, empower the FCC to auction off TV spectrum and share the proceeds with broadcasters who voluntarily give up their spectrum available for auction.

The FCC has been pushing for the so-called incentive auction authority for two years, believing that much TV spectrum is now underutilized and would better serve the public if it were auctioned to wireless broadband carriers.

Reflecting the concerns of the broadcasting industry, the Walden legislation instructs the FCC to make “all reasonable efforts to preserve … the coverage area and population served” of broadcasters who choose to hang on to their spectrum and not participate in the spectrum action.

It also provides up to $3 billion to compensate broadcasters who would have to change channels in the “repacking” of the TV band that would occur once the FCC has identified all the spectrum that it will put on the auction block.

In the repacking, the bill also says, the FCC could not shift stations from a UHF channel to a VHF channel or from a high VHF channel to a low VHF channel.

In lieu of reimbursing stations for the costs of repacking, it says, the FCC may grant stations waivers to use some of their spectrum for services other than broadcasting. “Such waiver shall only remain in effect while the licensee provides at least one broadcast television program stream on such spectrum at no charge to the public.”

The NAB, which has been leading efforts to build safeguards into the legislation, praised Walden’s bill as a “a major step forward in ensuring that local television stations will continue to be able to serve our vast and diverse audiences….

“Our position remains unchanged since this debate began: NAB has no quarrel with voluntary spectrum auctions so long as non-volunteer broadcasters and our viewers are not punished.”

The Democratic leadership on the House Energy and Commerce Committee produced is own bill today that also covers incentive auctions and broadcasting.

LIke the GOP, it also has safeguards for broadcasters who choose keep their spectrum, but face repacking. During repacking, it says, the FCC shall, to the extent technically feasible, assign stations new channels that enable them “to offer service that is substantially similar in service contour, population coverage and amount of harmful interference” as their old channels.

The House committee plans to mark up the bill on Thursday. Companion legislation has already cleared the Senate Commerce Committee and is awaiting floor action.