FCC Releases Post-Auction Transition Plan, Hints at Quiet Period Relief
“Some relief” for broadcasters from the incentive auction's prohibited communications rules “may be appropriate” when the confidential letters containing broadcaster channel assignments are sent out, said the Incentive Auction Task Force in the transition plan public notice Friday. Though the IATF made some concessions to broadcasters on matters such as temporary channel sharing and the effect of the weather on the repacking schedule, the agency will proceed with the expected phased transition plan (see 1611160033) that prioritizes clearing wireless spectrum, the PN said.
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The accompanying post-incentive auction procedures PN details how winning bidders in the auction will leave their channels and receive auction proceeds. Though a precise timetable is “not feasible,” it said broadcasters will get their funds “as soon as practicable” after the auction. The influx of information on the repacking is welcome, because broadcasters need answers to gear up for the repacking and the surge in dealmaking that's expected, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Frank Montero: “The market hates uncertainty.”
“Nearly every commenter” on the transition plan asked the FCC to relax the quiet period rules after the incentive auction’s final stage rule is satisfied. The rule remaining in effect prevents broadcasters from planning for the repacking, since to do so they need to be able to converse freely with other broadcasters, broadcast attorney Jack Goodman told us. “A great many preparations” for the repacking “wouldn’t involve prohibited communications,” the transition plan PN said. That would include communications with vendors and engineers, the PN said. But it said bids and bidding strategies still can’t be communicated, and that stricture is broad enough to make all broadcaster communications about the auction risky, numerous broadcast lawyers said (see 1701200050).
That caution is also borne out in the PN. “A broadcaster that publicly disclosed that it had applied to participate in the auction could implicitly disclose the results of its bidding when it discloses a post-auction channel assignment,” the PN said. Numerous broadcasters and broadcast attorneys also said with the reverse auction complete, knowledge of broadcaster bidding strategies is irrelevant and can’t affect the incentive auction's remaining phases. “The goal of expediting the transition cries out for relief from the broadcaster gag order,” auction consultant Preston Padden emailed.
Though the PN mentions vague possible relief, plans to relax the broadcaster quiet period or completely drop it are under consideration at the commission, numerous industry officials said. Though some form of partial relief is possible, it's likely full communications among broadcasters will be restored when confidential channel assignment letters are sent out in a few weeks, multiple industry officials said.
The confidential letters also will assign each station to a transition phase based on its designated marketing area, repacking difficulty and other factors considered by the phase assignment tool, as the IATF initially suggested in the transition plan PN. The tool "is designed to organize the transition of all transitioning broadcast stations in an orderly fashion that respects station dependencies and interference constraints in addition to accounting for individual stations complexities, while simultaneously protecting television viewers,” the PN said. It said minimizing the number of rescans required of consumers will also be a consideration in the phase scheduling.
Though the FCC rejected suggestions it adjust the transition plan to account for zoning board difficulties and the bureaucratic difficulties of noncommercial educational stations, it conceded extreme weather could affect a station’s ability to be repacked at the deadline determined by its phase. “The Bureau intends to examine the output of the Phase Scheduling Tool and adjust the deadlines for early transition phases to accommodate weather,” the PN said. It also rejected a request by NAB for a cap on the amount of temporary aggregate interference a station might receive during its transition phase, but said the Media Bureau will attempt to find a new phase for stations that are predicted to receive more than 5 percent. The FCC will allow broadcasters to apply for temporary channel sharing during the transition, a move praised by Padden.
The bureau will “view favorably” applications for extension of time or deadline waivers that “have little or no impact on other stations’ transition schedule,” and view requests that do disrupt the timeline unfavorably, the post-auction procedures PN said. Such applications will be viewed on a case-by-case basis, the PN said.