CCA, CCIA, T-Mobile Oppose Second Minimum Price in Incentive Auction
FCC adoption of two minimum sales prices for spectrum in the incentive auction will discourage competition and lower the amount of money the auction generates for taxpayers, said the Competitive Carriers Association, Computer & Communications Industry Association and T-Mobile in reply comments to oppositions to petitions for reconsideration in docket 12-268 Monday, the deadline for such comments. In their own filings, the New America Foundation and Public Knowledge disagreed with the WMTS Coalition over whether petitions opposing unlicensed use in Channel 37 are premature. Low-power TV interests and Sennheiser asked the FCC to overturn some auction decisions, and NAB attacked CTIA’s “cheerleading” for FCC decisions that “abrogate the rights of broadcasters.” CTIA’s “wholehearted support for each of the Commission’s decisions harming broadcasters draws into sharp focus exactly how imbalanced the Commission’s Report and Order is,” NAB said.
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Adopting a second MHz per POP reserve price could hurt the effectiveness of the spectrum reserve as a “meaningful competitive protection,” T-Mobile said in its comments. If the second reserve price is too high, the spectrum reserve may not enter the auction at the correct price for smaller companies to bid, the carrier said. T-Mobile, CCA and CCIA disputed filings from AT&T and Google (see 1411120035) arguing that petitions opposing the second reserve price are premature since more details about it will be released in the upcoming auction procedures public notice. “The Commission’s adoption of a second, per MHz-pop reserve price in the Incentive Auction Order was a final action in a rulemaking proceeding,” CCIA said. Reconsidering the second price “will not only fulfill the obligation for reasoned decision making under the Administrative Procedure Act, but also eliminate the risk that a poorly-developed rule will frustrate the Commission’s goals,” CCIA said.
Petitions calling for the FCC not to allow unlicensed use in Channel 37 are premature, New America's Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge said in joint reply comments challenging filings from GE Healthcare and the WMTS Coalition. The auction order says the commission will permit unlicensed use under parameters and in locations where it won’t interfere with WMTS, the joint filing said. The FCC has “tipped the scales away from a balanced analysis of the risks and benefits of allowing sharing,” the WMTS Coalition said in its reply filing. The FCC decision was “arbitrary and capricious” because it “failed to adequately explain the departure from well-established Commission policy,” GE Healthcare said.
NAB’s analysis of the likely costs of repacking broadcast stations predicts a $2.6 billion bill, a shortfall against the $1.75 billion relocation fund of $600,000 per station, NAB said in reply comments directed at CTIA. The wireless association “argues that it is okay for the FCC to blow through the repacking fund,” because limiting repacking costs to the $1.75 billion fund would limit the amount of spectrum in the auction, NAB said. “This argument completely ignores Congress’s direction under The Spectrum Act." The commission should ignore CTIA’s endorsement of the 39-month deadline for stations to vacate their old channels, NAB said. The FCC’s Widelity Report suggests that some stations could take as long as 41 months to repack, NAB said.
The Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance also disputed CTIA’s comments, arguing that the FCC should reconsider policies for allowing LPTV stations into the auction. "The FCC should not destroy LPTV and translator service in the interest of conducting the auction a bit sooner,” ATBA said. The FCC should set aside a UHF channel for wireless mic use, microphone maker Sennheiser said in its reply. The FCC should grant the applications of a small number of stations asking to transition from VHF to UHF in advance of the auction, since this request went unopposed, Bonten Media and Raycom said in a joint filing, as well as Media General.