FCC Postpones Auction Of Broadcast TV Spectrum To 2016
The FCC has been working on a (mostly) voluntary auction of broadcast TV frequencies for years, with plans to have it take place in mid-2015. But today the agency says it will postpone the sale to early 2016 as it grapples with a lawsuit from the National Association of Broadcasters that says the plan will reduce the broadcast area of stations that choose to keep their licenses. Supporters of the auction say that unless wireless service providers have more spectrum, the fast-growing ranks of consumers using smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices will face dropped calls, dead zones, slow speeds, and high prices. The Obama administration is eager to free up 300 megahertz over five years, and 500 mhz over a decade. That will be hard to accomplish without help from broadcasters – the biggest users of spectrum outside of the military, and with frequencies with ideal propagation characteristics for mobile service providers.
The FCC has also said that its auction could be a windfall for some stations because they would share some of the proceeds. In fact a full-power TV station in Los Angeles could get as much as $570 million for its spectrum in the federal incentive auction. It's little wonder, then, that Los Angeles area public broadcast stations KCET and KLCS already announced joining forces to split a single over-the-air broadcast television channel, even as their business and programming operations remain separate, in order to free a class-A channel for the auction.
This delay comes just after the FCC pushed back the digital switch-over date for translators and low-power TV stations, from September 2015 (shortly before the auction) allowing them another year to see how the auction results will affect their licenses, but now may require yet another delay. Which is just as well, as the spectrum auction actually gives no consideration to their facilities at all, likely repurposing their channels, with no guarantee they will be any others slots left available for them to switch over to. This has some lawmakers taking-up their cause to ensure the survival of broadcast TV in remote areas, and small community TV stations.
The FCC has also said that its auction could be a windfall for some stations because they would share some of the proceeds. In fact a full-power TV station in Los Angeles could get as much as $570 million for its spectrum in the federal incentive auction. It's little wonder, then, that Los Angeles area public broadcast stations KCET and KLCS already announced joining forces to split a single over-the-air broadcast television channel, even as their business and programming operations remain separate, in order to free a class-A channel for the auction.
This delay comes just after the FCC pushed back the digital switch-over date for translators and low-power TV stations, from September 2015 (shortly before the auction) allowing them another year to see how the auction results will affect their licenses, but now may require yet another delay. Which is just as well, as the spectrum auction actually gives no consideration to their facilities at all, likely repurposing their channels, with no guarantee they will be any others slots left available for them to switch over to. This has some lawmakers taking-up their cause to ensure the survival of broadcast TV in remote areas, and small community TV stations.