FCC Incentive Auction Task Force Announces Deputy Chair for Transition

The Federal Communications Commission’s Incentive Auction Task Force announced that Jean L. Kiddoo is joining the task force as Deputy Chair for Transition. Working with task force Chair Gary M. Epstein and Vice Chair Howard Symons, Kiddoo will focus on planning for and implementing the post-auction transition. During the transition period, the Commission will reauthorize and relicense the facilities of broadcast television stations that receive new channel assignments. The transition also involves paying winning reverse auction bidders and administering the $1.75 billion relocation reimbursement fund authorized by Congress. Like the auction itself, the transition will be an inter-disciplinary effort that involves multiple bureaus and offices within the Commission and will span several years.

Kiddoo’s addition to the task force reflects the Commission’s increasing attention to the transition now that the auction is underway. Kiddoo has served as deputy chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau since 2014, in which capacity she has participated on the Incentive Auction Task Force Steering Committee. Kiddoo has also overseen the bureau’s Auctions, Broadband, and Mobility Divisions and has taken a leadership role in coordinating the Commission’s auctions systems, personnel, and resources across the various other bureaus and offices. Prior to joining the Commission, Kiddoo spent more than three decades in private practice, representing telecommunications, media and technology companies before federal agencies, courts, state regulatory commissions, and local authorities nationwide. Kiddoo is a graduate of Colgate University and earned her law degree from the Catholic University of America.