FCC Asked to Rethink TV Sharing Auction Rules

The Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition (EOBC) says it has been talking with broadcasters outside the coalition about the possibility of channel sharing, and says it has run across some problems with how the Federal Communications Commission set up the sharing system.

In a petition filed with the FCC EOBC writes, "The Commission appears to have inadvertently erected barriers that could drive many broadcasters away from the auction at a time when the FCC needs to be enlarging -- not reducing -- the pool of interested broadcasters." According to EOBC executive director Preston Padden, the petition is not adversarial but was in fact invited by the FCC. EOBC says the rules should be changed so that parties to sharing agreements are free to negotiate for common contractual rights, should be able to enter into sharing agreements after the auction, should be allowed to determine the length of those agreements, and if a sharing station relinquishes its license, the shared spectrum should revert to the sharing partner(s), not the FCC.