Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition: FCC Low-Balls Station Auction Values

[Commentary] The Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition released a list of 1,100 TV stations that it claims are being grossly undervalued by the Federal Communications Commission in its planning for the 2016 incentive auction.

EOBC says that while the FCC said that “the prices offered to stations would vary based on the station’s interference profile -- its impact on repacking,” but in the recently released public notice seeking comments on the auction, “the commission diverts from this approach, proposing a pricing formula that is based 50 percent on the interference-free population that a station serves. This component, EOBC says “is completely irrelevant to a station’s interference or ‘blocking’ profile and is included in the formula for one reason -- to drive down prices.” EOBC goes on to say: “Our analysis demonstrates that more than a thousand stations will receive prices that significantly undervalue their contribution to clearing spectrum. This issue impacts the entire industry.”