FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler countered the 78 House...
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler countered the 78 House Democrats who last week called for an open, fair broadcast TV incentive auction, with “equal terms” for all bidders (CD April 15 p5 ). “Consistent with the Spectrum Act, all who want…
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to participate in the Incentive Auction will be able to bid,” Wheeler said in a Thursday letter to Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., a lead author of the congressional letter (http://1.usa.gov/1jOeRqR) and member of the House Commerce Committee. “At the same time, a priority of the auction should be to assure that companies that already possess low-band spectrum do not exploit the auction to keep competitors from accessing the spectrum necessary to provide competition. This is particularly important in rural areas where low-band spectrum is necessary if competitors are to fill in the blank white spaces on the coverage maps we see on TV commercials.” Wheeler praised the virtues of low-band spectrum, particularly for reaching rural customers, and said two carriers hold the bulk of it. Wheeler plans to circulate a draft order among the other commissioners soon, he said, as expected (CD April 17 p1): “My proposal would reserve a modest amount of this low-band spectrum in each market for providers that, as a result of the historical accident of previous spectrum assignments, lack such low-band capacity. This proposal will also contain safeguards to ensure that all bidders for reserved spectrum licenses bear a fair share of the cost of making incentive payments to broadcasters who voluntarily relinquish some or all of their spectrum usage rights.” AT&T Vice President Joan Marsh has attacked the idea that smaller carriers were ever denied access to low-band spectrum and this week hammered home AT&T’s opposition to such auction restrictions. Smaller carriers had “acquired low band spectrum at auction and subsequently made the decision to sell it,” Marsh said in a December blog post (http://bit.ly/1mhNHJX). An FCC official judged Wheeler’s philosophy “simple and consistent": “When he proposes reasonable rules of the road to prevent a single company to run the table at the incentive auction, he is speaking on behalf of consumers and competition,” the official said, saying the “the public interest is not measured against the business model of one or two companies; it is measured against the ability of the market to deliver the benefits of competition to Americans in urban, suburban and rural America alike.” In his letter, Wheeler said other carriers deserve a “fair shot” at acquiring low-band spectrum in the incentive auction.