FCC Taking More Steps Following Up on Spectrum Act
A spectrum sharing order, set for a vote April 27, will move the FCC a step closer to holding an auction of broadcast spectrum, a key component of recently enacted spectrum legislation, agency and industry officials said. Meanwhile, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is poised to make a high-level appointment of someone to oversee FCC follow up on the legislation, working, at least at first, with former Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman.
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One agency official said the appointment is likely to be announced next week and is a senior telecom attorney. Several industry officials said they have heard an appointment is imminent. Milkman has been chairing an Incentive Auction Task Force since last month, though her appointment was made on an interim basis.
The spectrum sharing order does not take on some of the more controversial issues raised in a 2010 notice of proposed rulemaking (http://xrl.us/bm3oko), including a proposal to add new allocations for fixed and mobile services in the TV band, officials said. Instead, it focuses only on channel sharing with an eye on broadcasters who plan to sell some of their spectrum in an eventual voluntary incentive auction. The order would also allow sharing only by full-power stations.
The FCC wants to give broadcasters the freedom to consolidate their operations, allowing two or more TV stations to share a single 6-MHz channel. The rule says repeatedly that such channel sharing agreements would be voluntary and allows broadcasters to structure how such sharing relationships would work on their own, officials said. It would allow sharing between commercial and non-commercial stations. The order also preserves must-carry rights even for stations that agree to share their spectrum. Any station that is sharing would still have to be able to transmit one standard definition channel as a minimum requirement. Genachowski circulated the order April 6 (CD April 9 p5).
NAB officials raised questions about the NPRM in meetings with Milkman, Wireless Bureau Chief Rick Kaplan and Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake. NAB’s primary objection was to a proposal to add a co-primary fixed and mobile designation across TV bands. “We said that a decision on this issue is premature/untimely,” NAB said, according to an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bm3opf). “There is no full record of the impact of this allocation on existing services. Moreover, the Commission’s objective to facilitate band clearing can be accomplished by deferring the co-primary decision until after the Commission has set the structure and rules for the incentive auction. Delaying the co-primary allocation decision for now would not impact the overall schedule and timely completion of the incentive auctions proceeding.” NAB said giving co-primary priority to wireless services across the broadcast band “is unprecedented on both a national and international level.”