FCC: Not Talking About Auction Is Fine

The Federal Communications Commission won’t retaliate against broadcasters who refuse to participate in a planned agency outreach effort intended to educate broadcasters about why they might want to participate in the agency’s incentive auctions, a top agency official said.

“If someone from the FCC calls ... and you’re not interested and you don’t want to talk, ‘No thank you,’ is fine, and there will be absolutely no penalty,” said Howard Symons, vice chair of the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force.

Some broadcasters have raised concerns about the appropriateness of the planned agency outreach because the FCC licenses broadcasters and reviews station transactions. But Symons told broadcasters during the National Association of Broadcasters session that the FCC takes “very, very, very seriously” the statutory directive that auction participation be voluntary.

“I don’t think we can be passive as an agency and make this auction work,” Symons said. “But that doesn’t mean that you’ve got to take the meeting, that you’ve got to be interested,” Symons continued. “That’s not what voluntary means.”