The FCC “has done almost nothing positive or proactive” to attract broadcasters to the incentive auction, said Preston Padden, executive director of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, in informal comments filed in docket 12-268 Thursday. “We can think of no more sure path to a failed auction,” said Padden. To maximize broadcaster participation, the FCC should disavow any plan to relate the value of a station in the auction to its coverage area or ratings, Padden said. The FCC is buying spectrum rather than broadcast stations, said the filing. “The only factor relevant to the FCC’s valuation of a broadcast license, therefore, is the value of not having to repack that station,” Padden said. There’s no correlation between a station’s population served and the value of not having to repack it, Padden said. The commission could also increase broadcaster participation by keeping any bidding restrictions on AT&T and Verizon from having too much effect, the filing said. Such restrictions shouldn’t kick in until a very high threshold has been reached, and should allow the companies to buy at least 20 MHz of spectrum in any given geographic area, Padden said. “If the FCC prevents Verizon and AT&T from obtaining at least 20 MHz each, it could severely restrict auction revenues, dampening broadcaster interest.” The commission should also provide broadcasters with “a detailed roadmap” of the auction process to allow them to make business decisions, and share any available pricing information with broadcasters, Padden said. “In the absence of pricing guidance from the Commission, innovative channel sharing agreements are on hold and interested broadcasters are developing alternatives to auction participation -- launching new networks and entering into lucrative new programming arrangements,” said the filing.

The FCC should preserve the current retransmission consent regime, said CBS President Les Moonves in a meeting with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Friday, according to an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1jBu7bp). Retrans revenue is “critical” to CBS’s ability to produce programming, Moonves said. He also asked the FCC not to eliminate the sports blackout and network non-duplication/syndicated exclusivity rules, the filing said. The rules help broadcasting remain “a vibrant platform” for sports and preserve localism, Moonves said. He also told Wheeler that if the FCC eliminates the UHF discount, it should also raise the national ownership cap, and that some broadcasters need joint sales agreements to remain economically viable, the filing said.

The Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance (ATBA) said the FCC doesn’t have the authority to dismantle the low-power TV and translator industries for the broadcast spectrum incentive auctions. ATBA’s membership includes LPTV broadcasters, owners and translator operators, it said in an ex parte filing in docket 12-268 (http://bit.ly/1hxYknM). The commission doesn’t have the authority “to achieve the same result by conducting the auction without consideration of the impact on these vital local services,” it said. ATBA asked for a full rulemaking proceeding on LPTV issues. If the auction is to rely on repacking “feasibility checks” between bidding rounds, commission staff “should be required to assess the net impact on LPTV and translator facilities,” it said. It also called for preservation of diversity and localism, full transparency in the repacking process and other factors.

The FCC should perform a cost-benefit analysis on including low-power TV stations in the reverse auction, said company Free Access & Broadcast Telemedia in an ex parte filing Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1qf9siz). “Allowing LPTV into the auction is the seamless way to clear the maximum amount of spectrum expeditiously,” and will lessen the burden on the FCC to relocate stations after the incentive auction, the filing said. “After repacking full service and Class A TV stations, there is a looming shortage of relocation opportunities expected for LPTV in the 600 MHz band,” said the ex parte. The FCC should include such an analysis in its upcoming incentive auction report & order, or at least in the LPTV NPRM proposed for issue after the report and order, the filing said. Including LPTV in the auction would minimize “the harmful unfunded private mandate thrust upon thousands of legitimate, bona fide licensees,” said Free Access. It said the FCC should “consider the most free-market and inclusionary approach to treating all broadcast licensees equitably by allowing LPTV and translators in the auction."

The FCC Media Bureau dismissed Guaranty Broadcasting Company’s petition for reconsideration of the commission’s grant of Alex Media’s application for a new FM station at Belle Rose, Louisiana. Guaranty hasn’t met the burden of showing either a material error in the FCC’s original order, or raising additional facts, “not known or existing at the time of the petitioner’s last opportunity to present such matters,” the bureau said in a letter to attorneys for Alex Media (http://fcc.us/1fNkXsU). The petition merely repeats arguments raised in Guaranty’s informal objection, it said.

The FCC should consider the incentive auction’s effect on low-power TV stations and translators at every stage of the auction process, said the LPTV group Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance in an ex parte filing Monday (http://bit.ly/1fN2wEV). Though the Media Bureau has said it will recommend that an NPRM on the auction’s effects on LPTV be released after the auction report and order, that’s not soon enough, said ATBA. “If the FCC resolves all other auction issues before considering the treatment of LPTV and translators, some of the best options may have already been foreclosed,” said the filing. “The FCC does not have authority from Congress to simply dismantle the LPTV and translator industries or to achieve the same result by conducting the auction without consideration of the impact on these vital local services.” The FCC should be “an honest broker” in the incentive auction and allow the market to determine how much spectrum is needed rather than pressing broadcasters to participate, said ATBA. The commission shouldn’t care “how much spectrum is relinquished and re-sold, or even whether the auction closes at all in the reverse and forward auctions,” said ATBA. The FCC’s “clearly stated preference for repurposing as much spectrum as possible” is troubling because the FCC will be running the auction, ATBA said. The group also opposes the band plan proposed by the FCC because it emphasizes spectrum repurposing, the filing says. The commission should also allow flexible use for displaced LPTV and translator licensees, and issue a “time-out” on LPTV construction obligations until a reasonable period of time after the auction and repacking, the filing said. “No one could rationally dispute the futility of undertaking any LPTV construction when the FCC has taken the position that any or all facilities could be displaced at some time in the future,” said ATBA.

ONE Media, created by Sinclair and Coherent Logix, will build a “Next Generation Broadcast Platform” that offers wireless access to “premium video content” without a data cap, said ONE Media in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1hvpfjT). The platform will “harmonize television broadcasting with LTE-based mobile infrastructure” and will be used on TVs in the home, over Wi-Fi on mobile devices, or over mobile broadband, said ONE Media. The “Open Network Enabled broadcast/broadband converged Media platform” will extend 3GPP LTE standards “to accommodate existing high power/tall tower broadcast infrastructure” and “eliminate the technical limitations of a conventional mobile TV standard to penetrate mobile devices,” it said. The platform can be built and demonstrated within 12 months, said ONE Media CEO Tommy Eng. The platform is intended to “align the business interests of various parties” to facilitate the Advanced Television Systems Committee 3.0 standardization process,” said ONE Media. “The challenge of meeting broadcaster needs through the current ‘Next Generation’ (ATSC 3.0) activity within the ATSC organization is difficult due to there being little business alignment between broadcast consumer electronics (CE), and other wireless industries,” it said. “A standards development organization is not a suitable forum in which to align business interests."

Broadcasters should always allow the FCC access for inspection to avoid fines, a broadcast attorney said. Pillsbury lawyer Christine Reilly referenced the $89,200 fine proposed by the FCC to Class A station WHPA Philadelphia (CD April 30 p13). The language used by the FCC in this particular notice of apparent liability “leaves no doubt that the commission was not happy with the licensee, particularly with what the FCC believed was blatant disregard for its authority,” she said in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1apzXs4). “The obvious lesson learned here is that if the FCC comes knocking at your door, let them in.”

The FCC should “think long and hard” about adopting any repacking plan that would cost more than the $1.75 billion set aside to reimburse repacked broadcasters, said Commissioner Ajit Pai in a speech Monday at the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters Convention (http://fcc.us/1njcPAn). “If broadcasters that stay in business are repacked and are required to pay some of their relocation costs, can we say that the incentive auction is truly voluntary?” Pai asked. The commission should ensure that non-participating broadcasters are “held harmless,” and make it simple for broadcasters to channel-share with the goal of encouraging them to participate in the auction, he said. “Channel sharing can allow broadcasters to stay in business while still receiving a cash infusion that can be used to improve their services or facilities,” he said. Keeping the repacking cost under the $1.75 billion mark is one of several ways Pai said the FCC could improve its relationship with broadcasters. “Every segment of the industry we regulate should have confidence that the commission will give them a fair hearing, and none should be under the impression that the FCC is out to get them.” Pai said it isn’t the commission’s role to urge broadcasters into the over-the-top video marketplace, a reference to Chairman Tom Wheeler’s speech at the National Association of Broadcasters show last month (CD April 9 p1). “For all of the talk of over-the-top programming, it’s still over-the-air programming that draws the largest crowds,” Pai said. Another way to help broadcasters would be to “modernize” the commission’s media ownership rules and eliminate the prohibition against newspaper-radio cross-ownership, he said. “The commission has signaled an openness to getting rid of this anachronism,” he said. “The FCC has no evidence at all justifying our newspaper-radio cross-ownership prohibition -- and nobody even bothers trying anymore.” The AM revitalization proposal could also be a way for the FCC to help broadcasting, and enjoys broad support, Pai said. “There are many issues at the FCC that are controversial. AM radio isn’t one of them.” The FCC should move forward with an FM translator window for AM broadcasters, Pai said. The commissioner said he will hold meetings with stakeholders this summer to collect more ideas for improving the AM band. “Our decisions should reflect a consistent regulatory philosophy instead of appearing to help or harm a particular segment of the industry,” Pai said.

Illinois low-power stations backed comments by Mako Communications urging the FCC to avoid treating low-power TV as a secondary service to mobile broadband and unlicensed services. LPTV’s WBKM Chana and WRDH Ashton commented Thursday in docket 12-268. They urged the commission “to adopt those comments in its ultimate ruling on the status” of LPTV in the repurposing of TV spectrum, the stations said in separate comments (http://bit.ly/1rMEwSq and http://bit.ly/1iLveR6). LPTVs willing to enter into channel-sharing agreements should be included in first priority grouping, Mako commented (http://bit.ly/1ue1gP7). WBKM and WRDH included Mako’s comments in their filings.