The FCC should study the impacts of the...
The FCC should study the impacts of the Spectrum Act on low-power TV, said the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1duT9I2). Congress “avoided its responsibilities” by failing to ask the Congressional Budget Office to make such…
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a study before passing the act, said the coalition. “There is no willingness” among legislators to initiate such a study, so the responsibility for conducting one “falls to the FCC,” said the coalition. “Without such a study being done prior to any final rule making and order, the Coalition will be forced to initiate legal action,” said the filing. A preliminary analysis conducted by the coalition showed a potential $1 billion impact on LPTV and translators, said the filing. LPTV stations should be allowed to participate in the auction, to make sure that there are enough participants to make the auction viable, it said. “Until such time that a study is done to show the potential results of LPTV in or out of the auction, no one can have the facts.” The coalition also made several suggestions related to the incentive auction, including giving displacement priority to stations that carry local news and service, and finding a solution for stations that are still in the midst of the conversion to DTV that after the repacking will have to again construct new digital facilities. The FCC also doesn’t have enough staff to handle the burden of applications and processing that will occur with the incentive auction, but the coalition is willing to “support an increase in the LPTV fee structure to support more staff and resources dedicated to LPTV-related activities,” said the filing.