Latest Spectrum Bill Prohibits Involuntary TurnoverJuly 29, 2010
WASHINGTON: A spectrum-related bill
rolled out on Capitol Hill today explicitly prohibits involuntary reclamation.
The “Voluntary
Incentive Auctions Act of 2010” states that, “The Federal Communications
Commission shall not reclaim frequencies of broadcast television licensees or
any other licensees directly or indirectly on an involuntary basis.”
Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), communications subcommittee chairman, and Cliff
Stearns (R-Fla.), its ranking member, introduced the bill. The intent is to
free up radio frequency spectrum for the FCC’s National Broadband Plan without
elbowing incumbents out. The bill authorizes the FCC to share auction proceeds
with broadcasters, and gives the agency discretion to determine how much.
The Plan, unveiled in March, included a proposal to share auction proceeds with
TV station licensees who voluntarily give up spectrum. It seeks to reclaim 120
MHz--around 40 percent--of the spectrum allocated for television broadcasting.
The Plan received President Obama’s official blessing last month. (
See “Obama Memo Orders
Agencies to Free 500 MHz for Broadband.”)
The Boucher-Stearns bill applies “only in instances in which television
broadcasters or other spectrum holders willingly enter into agreements with the
FCC...”
Boucher emphasized the goal of the legislation was to “ensure that any incentive
auctions the [FCC] conducts are truly voluntary.”
Stearns said, “No spectrum licensee, whether a broadcaster or wireless
provider, should be forced to give up the spectrum they currently hold.
One thing the bill does not address is potential new fees levied on
broadcasters who do not hand over spectrum. The FCC has floated the notion, to
the objection of the National Association of Broadcasters.
“Stations that choose not to participate in a voluntary incentive auction must
not be subjected to onerous new spectrum taxes that would make it increasingly
difficult for stations to finance local programming, operations and
newsgathering efforts,” NAB chief Gordon Smith recently said in a
letter to
Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council.
The Boucher-Stearns bill follows an announcement from Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.)
last week that he intended to introduce legislation authorizing the FCC to
share auction proceeds with broadcasters. The FCC cannot do so without a
Congressional mandate. Rockefeller’s play came just two days after Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) bowed a revenue-sharing
bill.
Several other spectrum-related bills circulating on the Hill call for spectrum
inventories and auctioning of the public-safety D Block. The FCC is scheduled
to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on its broadcast-spectrum proposals
this quarter.
-- Deborah D. McAdams
| COMMENTS (21) | | 08/09/2010 | | "Finally, there are probably 1000 stations, but there are far less owners." The actual FCC number last I heard was in the neighborhood of 1800. Big expensive stations in major markets tend to be what's consolidated in the hands of big station groups. In the many smaller markets, you get a lot more owners who have just a single local station the mom and pop shops of television. |
| | 08/06/2010 | | "I'm hard pressed to understand how supplanting "Frontline" with Twitter, Facebook and YouTube is in the public interest." - Clever choices, but how about replacing [ reality-tv show] with Hulu or Netflix or pbs.org? Also, L.A. has multiple vendors of broadband already, right? It's rural communities that need access. Isn't that how cable got started... you couldn't get a reliable TV signal out in the burbs/country? Regarding KCET, yes, as stated earlier, PBS is giving the community quality, value and choice with their bandwidth. Perhaps CBS, et al are too, but why don't they just state they are using their bandwidth and there's nothing to give back? Why would anyone think there's spectrum to reclaim if there isn't? Why doesn't the industry believe the FCC's statement there will be no involuntary reclamation? What are the real motivations? Finally, there are probably 1000 stations, but there are far less owners. Isn't that one of the complaints? Too much consolidation? BTW, I appreciate the responses and where applicable the education. |
| | 08/06/2010 | | What are there... at least 1,000 station-owning entities and one person dedicated to TVB? So actually, no, I don't have the phone numbers of all those chief engineers. Also, remember that null-versus-used bandwidth varies throughout a 24-hour broadcast day. That said, it's pretty common knowledge that CBS O&Os and many of its non-owned affiliates use their bandwidth for HD. One can see the difference watching the over-the-air signal. NBC squeezes HD for its sports multicast, weather and a hyperlocal programming stream. The weather multicasts get disparaged but for those of us who rely exclusively on over-the-air TV, it's nice to have it.
KCET here in L.A. has wonderful multicasts, including possibly the best nature channel in any language. The CW affil is multicasting THIS TVthe not-so-rich person's movie channel.
So it's TV, right? Not Nobel-level fare, I realize, but I'm hard pressed to understand how supplanting "Frontline" with Twitter, Facebook and YouTube is in the public interest. |
| | 08/06/2010 | | "With big corporations like the networks and station groups, you have to ask somebody who has the authority to speak for the company." Good idea. TVB has the contacts to do that, no? |
| | 08/05/2010 | | "That's one way to determine if all bandwidth is in use, but why won't broadcast stations just tell us?" .... Have they been asked? With big corporations like the networks and station groups, you have to ask somebody who has the authority to speak for the company. |
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