FCC To Send Broadcasters Economic Pitch For Auction

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said the FCC will start sending information packets, prepared by an investment banker, to broadcasters making the economic case for why they should participate in the incentive auction.

He said nothing was more critical to the success of the auction than broadcaster participation. That is because the auction is voluntary, and if no broadcaster showed up, there would be no spectrum to auction to wireless companies hungry for more. "Tomorrow we will begin sending to every eligible broadcaster an information package that was prepared for the FCC by investment banker Greenhill Associates," said Chairman Wheeler, holding out a copy. "It will describe in detail the economic potential of the auction. This is an economic decision that broadcasters have to make. Let's approach this like a traditional economic transaction."