FCC ‘Unlikely’ to release Repacking Data

Are you among the broadcasters waiting for the results of the Federal Communications Commission’s computer analysis of various TV spectrum repacking scenarios? Get used to it. You may be waiting forever.

FCC Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake said that it is “probably unlikely” the agency would ever release the computer runs, although it has released the algorithm on which they are based. Lake suggested that the “test runs” were not meant for public consumption. “We have done many, many runs of [the algorithm]…. We will be trying to refine our approach to that as we move into the rulemaking.” Lake’s answer differs from the one he gave at last year’s NAB. Asked then when the FCC would release its analyses, he promised them in “a few months.”