Repacking Could Leave Majority of Stations Untouched, Knapp Says

The TV band repacking that is to take place after the FCC completes the incentive spectrum auction might not affect most broadcasters that remain on the air, Julius Knapp, chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology said at the commission’s first workshop on the auction Friday. “The repacking does not mean that all of the stations will move,” he said. “In fact, probably a majority will stay right where they are.”

Under current FCC proposals, stations that need to move as a result of the auction results won’t get to pick their new frequency, Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake said. Allowing stations to choose new channels, as the commission did during the DTV transition would be inconsistent with running an efficient auction, Lake said. “We're prepared to be proven wrong on any of these matters,” he said, inviting input from broadcasters. After such changes are announced, stations could apply to be given a different channel if there’s a problem with their new assignment, he said.

Demand for spectrum is only expected in the top 30 or so markets, Lake said. Other smaller markets may see some interest to accommodate repacking because of “daisy chain effects,” he said. “There’s nothing magic about the top 30 markets, that’s a general prediction,” he said. The number of stations in each market varies widely, Lake said, in response to a question from a member of the audience. In some of the largest markets, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, there are upwards of 20 stations. In some smaller markets there actually aren’t even enough stations to carry all of the four major networks, so sometimes they bump together, he said. He declined to put a number on how much spectrum the commission expects to auction in the process. “We've seen signs of great interest,” he said. “But the amount of spectrum can’t be quantified at this point."

Class A stations may be able to boost their power as a result of the auction through channel sharing agreements with full-power stations, Lake said. Under proposals in the auction notice of proposed rulemaking a full-power station that shares a channel with a Class A would not lose any of its coverage, he said in response to a question from BIA/Kelsey Vice President Mark Fratrik.

Asked by a broadcaster why a station that plans to participate in the auction must continue broadcasting now, Lake said the auction is open to TV licensees. “And we have rules as to what the obligations are to remain a licensee,” Lake said. “We don’t know which offers we may accept in the auction,” and it would be wrong to tell stations thinking about participating that they could stop operating before their bids are accepted, he said.

Lake said the FCC is leaving a lot of discretion for broadcasters who decide they want to share spectrum. “This will be a private transaction, a contract between two broadcasters,” he said. “They will each choose their partner. There will be some role of the commission, undetermined at this point, in terms of approving such arrangements, but we contemplate that these will be private arrangements worked out between two stations that feel they're compatible and want to share.” UHF stations will be allowed to enter into sharing arrangements with VHF stations, he said.

Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman offered some insights on the proposal from her bureau’s standpoint. The commission proposed that the wireless downlink band be placed next to Channel 37 because that channel is already used for non-broadcast purposes, radio-astronomy and medical telemetry, she said. “So it’s already a natural separation between television and wireless operations.”

The FCC proposed, regardless of the band plan, to use mostly paired 5 MHz blocks, Milkman said. “Five MHz building blocks can provide a variety of wireless broadband technologies, and they're close in size to the 6 MHz channels that are being voluntarily relinquished by the broadcasters.” The plan proposes 6 MHz guardbands, which would be available for low-powered, unlicensed use, she said. “They also help ensure that the spectrum blocks are as technically and functionally interchangeable as possible. That is because we might have an auction design that calls for generic blocks in the forward auction, rather than auctioning, as we have in the past, specific wireless frequencies."

Milkman said the proposal carves out three types of spectrum for unlicensed use: The TV white spaces where they still exist, the guardbands and Channel 37, except for in protected areas of the country. These guardbands are proposed as 6 MHz bands, “but could be up to 10 MHz when the remainder spectrum is added, and the remainder spectrum is just the remainder that happens when you divide 5 MHz channels into 6 MHz channels,” she said. “You're going to wind up with between zero and four [MHz] left just as a matter of arithmetic and we propose to add those on to the guardbands.” Milkman stressed that “we do anticipate that a substantial amount of spectrum will be available for unlicensed use after the auction."

The FCC may not be able to clear as much spectrum along the Canadian border as it does at other locations because of the need to protect both Canadian and U.S. broadcast operations, Milkman said. “One of the interesting things about the particular band plan proposed in the notice is that it’s flexible enough to accommodate varying amounts of wireless spectrum in the different geographic locations,” she said. “If we allow for non-nationwide clearing of channels, then we can allow more broadcasters the opportunity to voluntarily relinquish their spectrum usage rights and we can also allow wireless providers to obtain additional spectrum wherever it’s available.” One possibility is that the FCC will decide it needs only two or possibly three different band plans, she said. “One along the border, one for the vast majority of the country and a third, perhaps, for a couple of special cases. But the band plan as proposed is flexible enough to accommodate more variation than that.”

The FCC also proposes that there be a fixed amount of downlink spectrum nationally, though uplink spectrum would vary, Milkman said. “That is driven by consumer device concerns,” she said. “It’s helpful to have the same type of receiver filter in all consumer wireless devices, and that’s what fixed amounts of downlink spectrum do. That would reduce in turn device costs, manufacturers wouldn’t need to include multiple filters in devices for the spectrum band, and it removes barriers to interoperability."

The FCC would welcome in particular comments on the future of broadband auxiliary service (BAS) spectrum, Milkman said. The proposal in general would largely leave BAS alone, sharing spectrum with broadcast operations, though BAS would have to relocate at its own expense from spectrum sold to carriers, she said. “The number of fixed BAS licensed in the UHF band is actually relatively low and … we're at least not aware of major interference problems to broadcast television service today,” she said. “We're interested in your comments on everything, but this is an area where we particularly welcome the expert comments of the broadcasters."

Milkman was asked if the rules will prohibit large carriers from employing smaller designated entities to buy spectrum licenses. “These are issues that are raised in the notice,” she said. “The incentive auctions notice does acknowledge the fact that the commission on the same day opened a rulemaking on mobile spectrum holdings … and also seeks comment on the use of designated-entity rules, bidding credits, etc."

Mike Gravino, general manager of the Civic Affairs TV network which provides public affairs programming such as local government cable access channels for broadcast TV, asked if low-power stations will have a place after the full-power stations are repacked. “I don’t think we have an answer to that question at this point,” Lake said. “We have asked questions basically that are similar to yours. What do we do about the room for low-power stations after a repack? We've also asked the broader question of how to ensure that programming such as you described continues to reach viewers through whatever means is possible, such as multi-casting on a full-power station or carriage on cable."

The workshop panelists were also asked about TV stations choosing to forego compensation funds for relocating in exchange for permission to have flexible use of their spectrum. So far, there hasn’t been much discussion among broadcasters about that issue, said Gary Epstein, chair of the FCC’s incentive auction task force. “I haven’t heard much from the broadcast community yet about that, but it’s early in the comment cycle,” he said.