Genachowski Sees Auction ‘Continuity,’ Says It’s No ‘Zero-Sum’ Game
LAS VEGAS -- FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski thinks his departure won’t affect the “continuity” of the voluntary incentive auction of TV frequencies, and that broadcasters shouldn’t view it as a “zero-sum game” between stations and carriers, he said Wednesday in a Q-and-A at the NAB Show. Just like cable -- which broadcasters initially opposed -- expanded stations’ revenue and business opportunities, so too will mobile wireless do so for stations, he said. Every stakeholder “should take this problem-solving and fact and data approach” to the auction and other issues before the FCC, just as commissioners have done, “even where we've disagreed, and we disagree fairly frequently,” Genachowski said. “We've worked to keep the focus on problem solving,” as “even where we disagree, we've been able to avoid dysfunction,” he said.
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"I expect there to be continuity as the process moves forward” in the auction, because “we've organized for success here,” Genachowski told NAB Joint Board Chairman Paul Karpowicz, who asked the questions and took a couple from the audience. Genachowski named a host of aides and bureau chiefs who are leading the process. Whether with the Office of Engineering and Technology bulletin 69, which broadcasters don’t want the FCC to update the software for before the auction (CD April 10 p12) or keeping stations’ service areas the same, “the FCC will do what the statute” says, he said of the Spectrum Act. “It’s very important for the country that this goes well,” said Genachowski. Broadcasters agree, replied Karpowicz.
The auction is “sometimes depicted as a zero-sum game” between mobile and broadcasting, which Genachowski said he disagrees with. Broadcasters shouldn’t think about it through that lens, because “this may be the single biggest opportunity in front of us to grow the content pie for everyone,” he said. “I strongly believe we will strengthen the broadcasting industry” because of “the sharing opportunities” and other benefits to stations, while those who sell their frequencies “will get significant payments to exit,” he said. Genachowski has said similar things, including at last year’s show.
Mobile DTV “is great” and the FCC has done a lot to help “and not inhibit it,” said Genachowski. “But whatever happens with mobile DTV … because of the technologies of the Internet, there are opportunities” for an on-demand mobile broadband platform “that broadcasters are as well positioned as anyone to take advantage of,” he said. Asked by Karpowicz about the agency’s role in copyright, Genachowski answered that “the FCC isn’t a copyright agency, so I don’t see a role there.” He did say “enabling people to get free TV is a good thing,” as are retransmission consent deals and “more competition.” The Aereo service that streams the signals of New York market TV stations to subscribers without the broadcasters’ consent has been a hot topic at NAB (CD April 9 p13), and attendees continued speaking about it in informal conversations and on panels. Genachowski was general counsel of IAC/InterActiveCorp, which is run by Barry Diller, an Aereo investor.
Genachowski is “completely optimistic that the issues with Canada and Mexico will be resolved in a positive way,” he said of interference and the auction. This won’t be the first time such issues are addressed by those countries and the U.S., said Genachowski. “In many ways, this is a well-worn path, in many ways these evolutions tend to benefit Canada and Mexico.”
The Internet has changed the media, with “a new world, and the commission has to take that into account,” said Genachowski of the 2010 quadrennial review that remains ongoing. “The core, underlying values, I don’t think they've changed, promoting diversity, guarding against excessive consolidation, promoting the health of all the players. Those values remain consistent.” The agency shouldn’t “ignore” the “effect of the new landscape on journalism, particularly print journalism,” said Genachowski. When a study by the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council is complete, “we'll see the commission move forward with decisions on media ownership,” he said. There’s a low chance the FCC will vote on the draft quadrennial review order shortly after the MMTC study is finished in about four weeks, Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake and others predicted on another NAB panel. (See report below in this issue.) A low-power FM window for LPFM seekers to apply for stations could happen this year, and “there is a translator backlog that we have to get through” that has dropped by thousands, said Genachowski.
The sequester may hurt the FCC’s “ability to move forward on technology investments that will have a real payoff for all the stakeholders,” said Genachowski. He cited improvements to FCC electronic systems “that have a benefit” to all inside and outside the agency who use them. “For the commission to be able to continue to make these investments” in such platforms is important, he said. They “enable staff to do their work quickly, as the volume increases.” For instance, equipment authorizations of a wide array of devices the FCC must approve, as it must OK anything using spectrum, have “grown dramatically,” said Genachowski: The number of staff has not.
It’s “striking” that “decades” after Genachowski was a DJ working the midnight to 2 a.m. shift as the “midnight rambler,” much is “the same” in broadcasting, he said. “The hunger that people have for what broadcasters provide is basically the same.” Now broadcasters “are really well positioned for this new world” of the Internet and social media, said Genachowski. “I always thought” broadcasters “would thrive to the extent that they think of themselves as multiplatform content creators,” he said. It’s “just amazing” what stations are doing with iPad apps, on Twitter and otherwise integrating their programming with new media, said Genachowski. “It will continue to create new opportunities for broadcasters.”