Pre-Auction Channel Sharing Deadline This Fall, Bunkin Says
Broadcasters looking to channel share after selling their spectrum in the TV incentive auction can agree to share their spectrum dynamically, so that spectrum is available when one sharing partner needs more bandwidth than another, said Incentive Auction Task Force Policy Counsel Dorann Bunkin on a task force webinar Thursday. All partners in a channel sharing agreement (CSA) always must be able to offer at least one stream of standard definition programming, Bunkin said. “Broadcasters in dozens of markets already transmit top-four network signals on a single 6 MHz channel,” she said. Materials from the webinar will be available on the FCC's Learn website, Bunkin said.
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Prospective channel sharing partners will need to have reached an agreement on terms by the time reverse auction initial applications are due in the fall, said Bunkin and Wireless Bureau attorney Erin Griffith (see 1508130043">1508130043). Though the FCC has said broadcasters will be allowed to reach CSAs after the auction, only the CSAs turned in to the agency before that deadline will be allowed to communicate with their sharing partners on auction strategy, Bunkin said. Anti-collusion rules will prevent all auction-eligible broadcasters nationwide from discussing the auction, she said.
A TV station operating on the shared spectrum of another is still bound by the same obligations and has the same carriage rights it would have if operating on its own, Bunkin said. Class A stations operating on the spectrum of a full-power station can take advantage of the higher power but have the same carriage rights and obligations of other Class A's, while full-power TV stations that have moved onto the spectrum of Class A's will have to abide by Class A power restrictions, Bunkin said. That could require them to take special steps to deliver a clear signal to a cable headend, she said. Noncommercial education stations can share with commercial stations, but they still have to abide by the rules and tax laws governing NCEs, Bunkin said.
A station that is operating on another’s spectrum can change its community of license, if it can do so without changing its designated market area, Bunkin said.
Stations that submit an executed CSA to the FCC by the application deadline have 90 days after receiving their auction proceeds to move their signal, though they can request a 90-day extension, Bunkin said. Extensions are also available for stations trying to complete sharing deals after the auction before they are required to vacate their spectrum, she said.
The commission will look favorably on extension requests from parties trying to complete sharing deals, Bunkin said. The commission should be able to review construction permits related to channel sharing more quickly than usual because they will be for sites already licensed by the FCC, Bunkin said. Additional rules on channel sharing for low-power TV stations displaced by the auction will be part of the rulemaking on the auction and LPTV, Bunkin said.