IATF To Send Status Letters This Week, Offers 'Peek' at Incentive Auction Interface
The FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force will send letters this week containing the passwords and information that will allow broadcasters participating in the auction to make their “initial commitment” to participate by the March 29 deadline, IATF officials said at a workshop on the reverse auction Friday. The initial commitment is the final deadline for auction participation, and the point at which broadcasters will inform the FCC whether they’d like to go off air, move to part of the VHF band, or stay on air and be repacked, said IATF Legal Adviser Erin Griffith Friday. The presentation also included a “sneak peek” at the software broadcasters will use to track and respond to bids in the incentive auction.
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Though the window to make an initial commitment doesn’t open until March 28, broadcasters will have access to the website starting March 24 for a preview period. The letters going out this week will contain login information and a physical RSA token. Broadcasters should log in early to “take advantage” of the chance to become familiar with the interface, IATF Chairman Gary Epstein said. The preview will last until the initial commitment window opens March 28. The window closes at 6 p.m. EDT March 29.
During that window, broadcasters cleared to participate in the auction will tell the FCC their preferred and fallback options for what happens to their spectrum. Stations that wish to go off air “can always be accommodated” said Griffith, but stations that prefer to move to high or low VHF can select a fallback option, in case there's not enough room in the VHF band. “Only a limited number of stations can be repacked” into the high and low VHF bands, she said. The initial commitments, broadcaster preferences, and the stations not participating in the auction will be fed into the FCC’s optimization software to determine an initial clearing target, band plan, and which broadcasters will receive their preferred options, said IATF Director-Systems and Math Optimization Melissa Dunford.
If none of a station’s listed options can be accommodated, that station won't be included in the auction and will be repacked, Dunford said. Some stations in areas with a less crowded band will be designated by the software as “not needed,” and they will remain on air and be repacked as well, Dunford said.
After the FCC has received the initial commitments on March 29, it will still likely be several weeks for the reverse clock auction to begin, said Margaret Wiener, chief of the Wireless Bureau Auctions Division. It will take three to four weeks to arrive at an initial clearing target, which will be followed by mock auctions before the actual bidding begins, she said. The IATF will also release a list of forward auction participants “in short order,” Vice Chair Howard Symons said.
The interface reverse auction that participants will use during the auction is nearly identical to the software they will use to register initial commitments March 29, Dunford said. The interface will contain information about stations a given broadcaster has in the auction, a countdown clock to the next phase, and prices for the options available to that broadcaster, she said.