FCC Outlines Incentive Auction Workshop

The FCC has released details of its Oct. 26
broadcaster workshop on the incentive spectrum auctions and their impact both
on broadcasters who give up their spectrum and those who chose not to.

The
FCC is trying to reclaim as much as 120 MHz of spectrum from broadcasters to
re-auction for wireless broadband.

The
workshop will attempt to pack a lot of info on spectrum repacking, auction
design and station eligibility into under two hours.

The
workshop will go from 1:30 to 3:15 and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn will be delivering
opening remarks.

The
topics of discussion will include reverse auction design proposals, band plans,
interference and repacking and more, plus a half hour at the end for questions.
On hand to answer questions at the workshop, which will be "broadcast live
over the Internet," include Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake, Wireless Bureau
Chief Ruth Milkman, Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julie Knapp.

Broadcasters
will likely have a lot of those. The FCC released its auction proposals two
weeks ago, but it did not provide hard answers on how stations will be repacked
and what interference protections they will be given, though it signaled that
preserving at least 98% of coverage areas was the target, as it was in the DTV
transition back in 2009.

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.