FCC Chief Delays Vote on Duplex Gap, Other Incentive Auction Rules Until August Meeting
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler pulled from the agenda for Thursday’s meeting the consideration of two items on the TV incentive auction. Wheeler revealed that the vote is being delayed, in a letter to the leaders of the House Commerce Committee. In the letter, he acknowledged Capitol Hill concerns that a delay will give the public time to analyze recently released data concerning the controversial policy call to put TV stations in the “duplex gap” between uplink and downlink frequencies bought by carriers in the TV incentive auction (see 1507130054). The FCC item on designated entity rules is still slated for a vote Thursday (see 1507140066).
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Wheeler said the vote will occur three weeks later, at the Aug. 6 meeting, on the auction procedures public notice and related mobile holdings issues. “In the spirit of cooperation that has marked our work together on the incentive auctions, I am today postponing Commission consideration of this order and the related reconsideration of the mobile spectrum holdings order until the Commission's next regularly scheduled meeting on August 6,” Wheeler wrote. “I believe that even with this delay” the auction can start in Q1, he said. The letter was sent to committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. Opponents of putting TV stations in the duplex gap told us they expect the fight to continue right up until the Aug. 6 meeting.
Wheeler explains in the letter why the FCC Friday released additional clearing target determination simulations. The data “was simply a more granular version of the auction simulations data that has been in the public's hands since May,” he said. “We released it in response to requests by several parties for more detail on the assumptions in those scenarios regarding broadcaster participation, and on the specific markets that would be affected if the auction system assigned stations to the duplex gap. I made the decision to provide it publicly and to all, while simultaneously suspending the sunshine rules so that commenters could provide input.”
Wheeler stressed that the data show that the FCC will need to put broadcasters in the gap in only about a “half dozen” markets. “Absent this option, assigning even just a few additional stations to the uplink or the downlink would increase interference to adjacent markets to the extent that an entire 10 MHz block of spectrum would be lost to the auction,” he said. Wheeler also said the FCC isn't ignoring potential interference from broadcasters in Mexico and Canada: “To the contrary, discussions are ongoing with officials in both countries and we are optimistic that we will be able to announce agreements soon that will facilitate a successful auction.”
Commissioner Ajit Pai issued a statement questioning how the data release was handled. “First, the staff did not give stakeholders sufficient time to analyze the new data, attempt to replicate it, and provide the Commission with fully informed feedback,” he said. “Second, the staff did not disclose all of the data that had been requested. And third, the Chairman’s Office did not afford the Commissioners enough time to analyze either the data or the comments about that data.”
Pai called on Wheeler to release all data from the simulations and schedule an en banc hearing of the commission to consider band plan variability and the proper placement of TV stations. “These issues deserve a thorough public airing,” he said. “Let’s invite broadcasters, wireless carriers, and unlicensed advocates to testify.”
The FCC has been under pressure from the Hill to rethink the proposal on the duplex gap. FCC and industry officials said a senior House Democrat called Democratic commissioners this week asking them to delay the vote. Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., sent Wheeler a letter Wednesday raising questions. A “broad swath of stakeholders” seem to agree the FCC should not place broadcasters in the gap, the senators said.
Reactions Divided
Reactions were divided, with a carrier and a broadcaster group opposed to the move and public interest groups saying Wheeler made the right decision.
NAB questioned why the FCC is tinkering with a carefully worked out compromise designed to provide adequate spectrum for unlicensed devices and wireless mics. “The FCC could easily have voted tomorrow on an order maintaining this balanced approach and not delayed the process,” NAB said. “Instead, the Commission has produced no explanation for its about-face and has left stakeholders baffled as to why it is walking away from previous commitments. It’s time for the FCC to engage stakeholders in a transparent, data-driven manner, and come to a successful resolution of this issue.”
Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry expressed disappointment that Wheeler rescheduled the vote. CCA has endorsed the proposal to put some TV stations in the gap. “Competitive carriers desperately need access to additional spectrum, especially low-band spectrum,” Berry said in an emailed statement. “I strongly urge the Commission to act as quickly as possible to move critical low-band spectrum to market.” Any delay in the auction would hurt competitive carriers, he said.
“Chairman Wheeler made the right call,” said New America Foundation Wireless Future Project Director Michael Calabrese. “The data released by the auction team last Friday shows that this is a problem in only about six markets out of more than 400. Our Public Interest Spectrum Coalition agrees with the Competitive Carriers Association and other parties who have suggested that with more time, the commission can seriously consider if there is replacement spectrum available to ensure that the public does not lose the benefits of better Wi-Fi and broadcast news microphones nationwide.”
“We've seen a number of very good suggestions from a number of stakeholders designed to find alternatives" to putting a broadcasters in the duplex gap, "or to find alternative spectrum for unlicensed spectrum and wireless microphones made in the last few days following the subsequent data release better defining the scope of the problem,” said Harold Feld, senior vice president at Public Knowledge. “Our experience talking to the auction team staff is that they are genuinely interested in trying to maintain the commitments to keep three [TV white spaces] channels available in every market and protect wireless microphones, while ensuring enough quality spectrum comes to market to satisfy the carriers.” But Feld said the problem Wheeler faced is that this remains a complicated issue. “There was simply no time to verify what suggestions were technically feasible or what the unanticipated impacts might be,” he said.