Spectrum

On Friday, October 26, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission held its first workshop as part of its Learn Everything About Reverse-Auctions Now (“LEARN”) Program — a series that seeks to provide broadcasters guidance on the incentive auction process by which the FCC will reallocate a to-be-determined amount of broadcast television spectrum in the 600 MHz…
Continue Reading Spectrum Watch: FCC Holds Broadcaster LEARN Program Workshop

This week the United Kingdom completed its five-year transition from analog to digital broadcast television operations.  The switch to digital has allowed broadcasters in the UK to offer more channels and high-definition television services to the public.  In addition, the transition freed up spectrum that the UK government will auction for fourth generation (4G) mobile broadband services in the upcoming year. 
Continue Reading Spectrum Watch: UK Completes Digital Television Transition, With Plans to Auction Freed Up Spectrum for 4G Services Within a Year

The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday approved rules to spur the long-stalled development of the 2.3 GHz Wireless Communications Service band by resolving interference issues between WCS and satellite radio services. The FCC noted that “most of the WCS licenses have gone unused for approximately 15 years,” since the licenses first were auctioned in 1997. 

The new rules largely ratify an agreement announced in June between AT&T and Sirius XM. Among other things, the rules bar mobile and portable transmitters from operating in the 5-megahertz WCS blocks surrounding the satellite radio spectrum, thus “provid[ing] added interference protection to [satellite radio] operations while advancing the Commission’s goal of making mobile broadband services over the WCS spectrum widely available.”  WCS operators also will be required to coordinate with satellite-radio operators to resolve interference issues that arise when WCS signals exceed specified thresholds on roadways.
Continue Reading SpectrumWatch: FCC Approves Deal to Spur 4G LTE Deployment in “Long-Troubled” WCS Band

As we reported previously, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Matter of Expanding the Economic and Innovation Opportunities of Spectrum Through Incentive Auctions (“NPRM”), along with an accompanying paper by auction specialists Auctionomics and Power Auctions.

In this post, we describe the proposed rules for the incentive auction and the “repacking” of broadcast spectrum. The incentive auction is made up of three parts: (1) a reverse auction, in which broadcasters may bid to sell spectrum rights; (2) a forward auction, in which mobile carriers may bid to purchase spectrum rights; and (3) a repacking process, in which the FCC will reconfigure broadcast television allotments to take up a smaller portion of the UHF band ― thereby maximizing the amount of spectrum that could be made available in the forward auction.

As the NPRM explains, all three of these pieces are interdependent.  “[T]he amount of spectrum available in the forward auction will depend on reverse auction bids and repacking, winning reverse auction bidders will be paid from the forward auction proceeds, and our repacking methodology will help to determine which reverse auction bids we accept and what channels we assign the broadcast stations that remain on the air.  For the incentive auction to succeed, all three pieces must work together.”Continue Reading Spectrum Watch: A Closer Look at the FCC’s Proposed Rules for First-Ever Incentive Auction and Repacking of Broadcast Spectrum

The FCC today released details for its October 26th Broadcaster Learn Everything About Reverse-Auctions Now (“LEARN”) Program Workshop, to be held in the Commission Meeting Room at the FCC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. and webcast live at www.fcc.gov/live.    The workshop is the first in a series that seeks to provide broadcasters guidance on…
Continue Reading Spectrum Watch: FCC Releases Agenda for October 26th Reverse Auction Workshop

Tomorrow, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will publish comment deadlines for its recently-released Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that begins the process of reviewing its policies regarding the allocation of mobile spectrum.   The full text of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is available here.  While the simultaneous adoption of proposed rules for an incentive auction of broadcast television spectrum arguably has attracted greater attention, this review of broader spectrum policy will have an important bearing on all future spectrum auctions and wireless transactions.

The FCC last reviewed its mobile spectrum holdings policies more than a decade ago, before the recent explosion of smartphones and tablets and the bandwidth-intensive services used on those devices by millions of Americans.  By assessing its rules now, the FCC hopes to provide clear and predictable “rules of the road” for this and other future auctions. Comments are due November 23, 2012, and reply comments are due December 24, 2012.Continue Reading SpectrumWatch: FCC Initiates Review of Mobile Spectrum Holdings Policies

Welcome to the first post in our SpectrumWatch series, which will provide updates on developments in spectrum policy and regulation.

Earlier this year Congress passed legislation authorizing the FCC to create the first-of-its-kind incentive auction, in which TV broadcasters may bid on compensation to give up spectral license rights for auction to mobile…
Continue Reading SpectrumWatch: Incentive Auction Next Steps Expected This Fall