Many broadcasters still have a very negative view...
Many broadcasters still have a very negative view of the planned TV incentive auction, Preston Padden, executive director of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, said at a Mobile Future forum Thursday. (See related story in this issue.) “The only…
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way I believe the FCC is going to punch through the negativity that’s out there is by signaling a financial guidance to the broadcasters as to what kind of starting prices they can expect to see in this auction and they need to do that now,” he said. “They can’t wait.” Padden said the auction offers big opportunities for broadcasters. “If you're lucky enough to own a station in a market, the few markets where the FCC will be looking to buy spectrum, and the commission comes in and offers you 10 or nine or eight times what your station is worth as a television station, the only sensible thing to do is sell,” he said. “If you want to stay in the industry go out and buy yourself … stations to replace the one you sold or move up in markets, you don’t have to leave the business.” Padden said members of his group raised concerns with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a meeting last week (CD April 21 p1). “The chairman was very open and direct,” Padden said. “I think of the five issues we raised he said what we wanted to hear on about four and a half.” For example, members asked Wheeler about something he had reportedly said to a station broker that the FCC “could get all the stations … needed in New York for a total price that implied a completely unrealistically low payment,” Padden said. “The chairman’s response when we put that number out to him was a single word that roughly equates to bovine excrement."