If Incentive Auction Falls Flat, Don't Expect a Second One, Wheeler Says

If the TV incentive auction fails, Congress probably never will authorize a second one, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Thursday at the MoffettNathanson conference. Wheeler also said he plans to move forward while he's still chairman on all the big-ticket items he has teed up. Wheeler was interviewed at the conference by analyst Craig Moffett.

“We’ve created a market, we haven’t dictated or even proposed a solution,” Wheeler said of the incentive auction. “Buyers and sellers will work it out. The goal is what’s the highest and best use of spectrum.” The wireless industry has done a good job of explaining the need for more spectrum, Wheeler said: “Now what we’re doing is taking them up on it.”

Wheeler said he's “skeptical” there will ever be another TV incentive auction because of how difficult the first has been. “We’re what, four or five years into the processes that had to be put in place to deal with this?” he said.

Wheeler said he expects to wrap up the set-top box, ISP privacy and special access proceedings during his chairmanship. “We’re managing that way,” Wheeler said. “How do you do it? We’ve got a great team, there is a terrific team at the FCC.” Government employees often don’t get the credit they deserve, he said. “The people who are working on these issues are just busting their tails.”

Wheeler said he tried to explain his approach to competition at INTX 2016 Wednesday. “I was at the cable show yesterday and they weren’t throwing bouquets,” he said. NCTA President Michael Powell said Monday the cable industry has faced a "relentless regulatory assault" from the FCC (see 1605160033).

Wheeler repeated some of his comments from the cable show (see 1605180058). Industries offer a “laundry list of imaginary horribles” when they’re trying to win a regulatory fight, he said. As a former association executive, “I yesterday pled guilty, I used to do that to Michael Powell” when he was FCC chairman, Wheeler said. “So turnabout is fair play, Wheeler.” There have been a lot of complaints about proposed set-top box rules and the effect on copyright holders, Wheeler said. “We don’t want to do anything that upsets the copyright balance,” he said.

Legitimate questions have been raised on the set-top box rules as the proceeding has advanced, Wheeler said. Wheeler said his message to the cable industry is simple. The industry makes “legitimate points,” he said. “We can solve those. Let’s sit down and solve them. Your solution, however, appears to be to lay down across the tracks. There are solutions.”

Moffett asked Wheeler about comments Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rowenworcel made at INTX, that the FCC should allow more time for reply comments on the privacy rulemaking (see 1605170025). “I’ve got a great deal of respect for Commissioner Rosenworcel and I’m looking forward to her suggestions,” he said. That the comment period ends doesn’t mean the FCC will immediately approve rules, he said. “This is a long process.”

The ISP privacy rules impose the same rules on broadband as have long been in place for voice, Wheeler said. He held up a cellphone. “You call Air France,” he said. “Verizon can’t turn around and sell the fact that you’re calling Air France to a hotel in Paris or to a tour group.” If you go to the Air France website, consumers don’t have the same protections, he said. The FCC rules won’t cover edge providers like Google and Facebook because the agency has no authority over edge providers, Wheeler said. The FCC and FTC “each deal with the responsibilities that we’ve been given under the statutory authority that we have been given,” he said. “We do not exercise authority over the edge. The FTC does.”

Wheeler left open the possibility he would stay on at the FCC even after Barack Obama leaves the presidency. Wheeler said he joked last year when asked if he would stay on as chairman: "She hasn't asked me," he said, referring to presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Members of the Senate have asked him the same question, he said. “I have told them and repeatedly that it’s premature to make that kind of a decision,” he said. “As I look at it right now there’s eight months until we get to that point and I want to focus on what needs to be accomplished.”