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1 1 (October 11, 2017)

handle is hein.crs/govcgwq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: FF. ' riE SE-.$ri ,,,- i October 11, 2017 TV Broadcast Incentive Auction: Results and Repacking On April 13, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) formally announced the close of the television (TV) broadcast incentive auction. Under this auction, some TV broadcast stations voluntarily relinquished their spectrum usage rights in the 600MHz band for financial payment. The radio frequency spectrum released by the TV broadcasters is to be repurposed for commercial broadband communications to meet the growing demand for new and expanded wireless services. The major framework and requirements for this auction were established by Congress in Title VI (Spectrum Act) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-96). As required in the Spectrum Act, this auction (designated by the FCC as Auction 1000) consisted of two parts: Auction 1001 (reverse) followed by Auction 1002 (forward). TV broadcasters (restricted to full power and Class A licensees) voluntarily participated in Auction 1001, establishing the prices they were willing to accept for releasing the spectrum. In Auction 1002 wireless carriers and other commercial interests bid for licenses created from the release of the spectrum. The proceeds of the auction are to be used for the following purposes: to pay TV broadcasters that relinquished their spectrum holdings; to cover the costs incurred by the FCC for conducting the auction; plus up to $1.75 billion to cover costs associated with the relocation of other TV broadcast stations that did not participate in the auction but will be displaced by spectrum relocation. Any remaining funds will be deposited in the U.S. Treasury for deficit reduction. Bidding in the auction closed on March 30, 2017. The reverse auction cleared payments of $10.05 billion to winning broadcast TV stations with 142 winning bidders and 175 winning TV stations. The gross proceeds from the forward auction totaled $19.8 billion, with 50 bidders placing winning bids for a total of 2,776 of 2,912 licenses offered. T-Mobile was the largest winner in the forward auction, spending $8 billion for 1,525 licenses, followed by Dish at $6.2 billion for 486 licenses, Comcast at $1.7 billion for 73 licenses, AT&T at $910 million for 23 licenses, and U.S. Cellular at $328.6 million for 188 licenses. (Verizon did not bid and Sprint did not participate.) Nearly 30 rural and regional carriers were also successful bidders. After all obligations are met more than $7.3 billion of forward auction proceeds are to go to the U.S. Treasury for deficit reduction. The spectrum that was auctioned is located in the 600 MHz band and is considered highly desirable due to its excellent propagation characteristics (i.e., the ability to both travel long distances and penetrate buildings).The auction has repurposed 84 MHz of low-band spectrum, including 70 MHz of licensed spectrum for wireless companies and 14 MHz for wireless microphones and unlicensed use. Licensed spectrum is sold to the highest bidder and used exclusively for services provided by the license-holder. Unlicensed spectrum is accessible to anyone using wireless equipment certified by the FCC for those frequencies. TV stations will have to vacate the spectrum that was paid for by the winning bidders to enable its new use. This transition to post-auction channels involves not only those stations that voluntarily participated in the auction, but other non-participating broadcast stations that continue to operate their stations, which may incur costs or need to relocate as a result of the auction. The post-auction transition requires the FCC to clear the airwaves won in the auction by relocating the TV broadcast signals in a process known as repacking. The FCC established both a repacking plan to clear the channels that wireless carriers acquired in the auction and a TV Broadcast Relocation Fund (Fund) to cover associated costs incurred by non-participating TV stations (restricted to full power and Class A licensees) that are involuntarily repacked during this transition. Reverse auction winning TV stations that choose to remain on the air must pay for their own relocation costs. The repacking will occur over a 39-month period, and involves the relocation to new channels of nearly 1,000 broadcast TV stations that remain on the air and the coordination of hundreds of stations nationwide. This transition will occur using a phased approach with each station assigned to one of ten transition phases which will determine the order in which stations will move to their new channels. The repacking process, which commenced in April 2017, is scheduled to conclude in July 2020. Initial relocation moves will take place in November 2018. This process includes modifying towers, moving radio transmitters, moving and manufacturing antennas, as well as hiring tower crews and engineering consultants. External factors, including weather conditions and local zoning and permitting processes, will also factor in to the repacking process. After the transition these stations, in most cases, will not go off the air, but will share frequency with other stations (channel sharing) or relocate to a new channel. As a result multiple stations may relocate or new stations may enter a market. Viewers who rely on over-the-air antennas to receive their broadcast signals will need to direct their receivers to scan the area, in some cases multiple times, to find and view relocated local broadcast channels. K~:> mppm qq\ p\w gn'a', ggmm I 'S 11LIANJILiN,

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