Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake Pitches Cash Infusions for Struggling Stations

Federal Communications Commission Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake pitched incentive auctions to an audience of broadcast and cable executives and attorneys, saying the FCC had heard from broadcasters and brokers interested in the auctions, which will compensate broadcasters for giving up spectrum for auction, presumably for wireless carriers who claim to be facing a spectrum shortage now and a crisis soon.

At a Media Institute luncheon, Lake said that while TV stations are doing better than they were in the depths of the downturn three years ago, not all are sharing in that "relative" recovery. Lake said that broadcasters in Las Vegas for the National Association of Broadcasters convention "hammered home" to FCC staffers in conversations that even among the major broadcast groups, economic conditions varied widely. He suggested that some of those groups include smaller, struggling stations, as well as strong ones. Then there were smaller independent stations that faced a "harsher reality" than others. In both cases, he suggested, there was an opportunity to cash in on their spectrum through auctions. "It is exactly this disparity in economic prospects among stations that convinces us that the incentive auctions that Congress has authorized present a real opportunity for some stations," he said.