FCC Revamps LEARN Auction Website

Adds new summary of auctions and links to comment page

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/17/2013 3:04:38 PM

The FCC, which has pledged to make the broadcaster incentive auctions as easy to understand and participate in as possible, has revamped its LEARN (Learn Everything About Reverse-Auctions Now) website.

Among the new features on the site is a summary of the process created by the incentive auction task force.

The idea behind the revamp, according to source familiar with the new versions, is to provide a "plain English" primer on the auctions. New features include links to the commission's comment page, as well as graphs, charts and videos to let users dig deeper into the process if they choose.

Jan. 25 is the deadline for broadcasters to file initial comments on the auction framework, which the FCC proposed back in October.

Gary Epstein, chair of the Incentive Auction Task Force, has said that his goal is to keep the auction complexity "under the hood" as it were, which would make sense both in terms of user-friendliness and in making it as easy for broadcasters to participate -- and give up spectrum the FCC wants -- as possible.