Restrictions on DEs Could Mean Sharply Lower Take From Incentive Auction, DE Council Tree Says
If the FCC makes major changes to the designated entity (DE) program, the TV incentive auction could be in no way as big a success as this year's AWS-3 auction, said representatives of DE Council Tree in a meeting with…
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Wireless Bureau staff, including Chief Roger Sherman. The FCC on Monday posted an ex parte filing on the meeting in docket 14-70. If the FCC “were to impose improvident restrictions on the DE program that disable the type of large investor DE alliances which drove Auction 97 to record levels, multiple studies Council Tree has submitted on the record project that revenues generated by the forward auction portion of the upcoming Broadcast Incentive Auction (BIA) would fall dramatically, imperiling the success of the BIA,” Council Tree said. “The fallout and negative repercussions from such a BIA failure would be immense.” Imposing restrictions on DEs could cut revenue from the auction in half, Council Tree warned. “Its likely impact will begin to be felt ahead of the BIA as broadcasters learn of and focus on the negative impacts of the DE-disabling proposals.” Partnerships with investors have always been part of the DE program, the DE said. These partnerships are critical to helping the program meet its statutory mandate of “widely disseminating licenses among all geographic markets, promoting competition, and avoiding license concentration,” Council Tree said.