Deadline Set for Petitions to Reconsider FCC Auction Plan

The FCC's broadcast incentive auction bidding procedures public notice was published Oct. 14 in the Federal Register, which means petitions to reconsider that decision are due Nov. 13.

The FCC has yet to establish a pleading cycle for oppositions and replies to those petitions, if any.

That public notice, voted Aug. 6, basically finalized the framework and process for the incentive auction, both forward (broadcasters give up spectrum) and reverse (wireless carriers and perhaps others bid on it) portions.

Broadcasters have already had a lot to say about that framework, including taking aim at the plan to place some TV stations in the wireless band (duplex gap) and reserving a channel for unlicensed operations in the TV band even if it displaces licensed low powers and translators.

The commission is expected soon to release a public notice on procedures for applying for the incentive auction as well as final opening bid prices. FCC chairman Tom Wheeler had said to look for something around Oct. 12.

The broadcast application window is expected to close by year's end, with the auction to begin March 29.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.