.JULIUS GENACHOWSKI CHAIRMAN FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION February 28, 2013 The Honorable Jim McDermott U.S. House of Representatives 1035 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congressman McDermott: Thank you for your letter regarding the Commission's NPRM on incentive auctions. I appreciate your interest in this matter and am pleased "to provide the enclosed letter on this issue from the Chiefof the FCC's Incentive Auction Task Force. If you have any additional questions or need any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. ;. Julius Genachowski Enclosure 445 12lH STREET S.W. WASHINGTON. D.C. 20554 • 202-418-1000 Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 February 27,2013 The Honorable Jim McDermott U.S. House of Representatives 1035 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congressman McDermott: Thank you for your letter regarding the impacts that the incentive auction could have on the availability of free, local, over-the-air broadcast television for the residents of Washington State. I wish to assure you that the Commission is keenly aware of the importance of over-the­ air stations to viewers that rely on them and is committed to providing such stations the full protections granted by Congress in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Spectrum Act). As required by the Spectrum Act, station participation in the incentive auction is completely voluntary and no stations will be forced to participate. Stations that do not participate, or participate and do not submit winning bids, will stay on the air and either remain on their present channels or be repacked in the same band. All remaining stations, including any affected station you reference in your letter, must and will be repacked in such a way as to preserve their respective coverage areas and populations served, as required by the Spectrum Act. In addition, the Commission is carefully negotiating with its counterpart in Canada to ensure that we are able to both protect domestic broadcasters and reclaim an optimal amount of spectrum for flexible use. The United States has had a long and successful history of close cooperation with Canada regarding the use of radio spectrum along the border and we expect that this cooperation will continue through the incentive auction process. The Commission is dedicated to conducting an open and transparent process and has worked to make as much information as possible available to the public. These information­ sharing efforts have included numerous meetings, public presentations, forums, and the launch of a new Broadcaster LEARN Program website (fcc.govllearn), which is designed to inform broadcasters about the details of the incentive auction and empower those broadcasters to participate in the rulemaking process. We have met with interested parties, including several times with the National Association of Broadcasters, had numerous other communications with their representatives and individual broadcasters, and intend to continue an open discourse with all parties throughout the duration of the process. In our Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Commission solicited comment from the public and any interested party on the design and implementation of the incentive auction, including with respect to band plans repacking methodologies, and how to best address potential cross-border interference issues with Canada. We received the initial responses to this solicitation on January 25th and are awaiting further comments on March l2'h. Also, as is typical with Commission auction proceedings, we anticipate issuing further public notices that will provide additional opportunities for interested parties to comment on incentive auction issues. We will consider these and other critical inputs carefully as we formulate rules for the incentive auction. The Commission will continue to work towards designing and implementing the best possible incentive auction, while closely adhering to Congress's statutory direction with respect to broadcasters and their viewers. We will also continue to promote openness and transparency in our proceedings and actively solicit input from the broadcast community and the public at large. Through these efforts we will be able to conduct a successful auction that serves the interests of broadcasters, mobile broadband providers, other stakeholders, and the American people, alike. I appreciate your interest in this important matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you should require further assistance. We will place a copy of your inquiry and our response in the Commission's incentive auction docket. [relY' Yh\(}ffl~ Gary:1stein Chair Incentive Auction Task Force cPM."",~f~<.~.. II. t' ""'t • 1'. ,I \' .'f .' I,} " :. " S ":.~ ..-~. o",MISS\U' JULIUS GENACHOWSKI CHAIRMAN FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION February 28, 2013 ..-'... '" . .-/ The Honorable Adam Smith U.S. House of Representatives 503 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congressman Smith: Thank you for your letter regarding the Commission's NPRM on incentive auctions. I appreciate your interest in this matter and am pleased to provide the enclosed letter on this issue from the Chiefof the FCC's Incentive Auction Task Force. If you have any additional questions or need any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. Enclosure 445 12TH 5TREET S.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20554 • 202-41 S-I 000 Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 February 27, 2013 The Honorable Adam Smith U.S. House of Representatives 2264 Rayburn House Office Building Washington. D.C. 20515 Dear Congressman Smith: Thank you for your letter regarding the impacts that the incentive auction could have on the availability of free, local, over-the-air broadcast television for the residents of Washington State. I wish to assure you that the Commission is keenly aware of the importance of over-the­ air stations to viewers that rely on them and is committed to providing such stations the full protections granted by Congress in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Spectrum Act). As required by the Spectrum Act, station participation in the incentive auction is completely voluntary and no stations will be forced to participate. Stations that do not participate, or participate and do not submit winning bids, will stay on the air and either remain on their present channels or be repacked in the same band. All remaining stations, including any affected station you reference in your letter, must and will be repacked in such a way as to preserve their respective coverage areas and populations served, as required by the Spectrum Act. In addition, the Commission is carefully negotiating with its counterpart in Canada to ensure that we are able to both protect domestic broadcasters and reclaim an optimal amount of spectrum for flexible use. The United States has had a long and successful history of close cooperation with Canada regarding the use of radio spectrum along the border and we expect that this cooperation will continue through the incentive auction process. The Commission is dedicated to conducting an open and transparent process and has worked to make as much information as possible available to the public. These information­ sharing efforts have included numerous meetings, public presentations, forums, and the launch of a new Broadcaster LEARN Program website (fcc.gov/learn). which is designed to inform broadcasters about the details of the incentive auction and empower those broadcasters to participate in the rulemaking process. We have met with interested parties, including several times with the National Association of Broadcasters, had numerous other communications with their representatives and individual broadcasters, and intend to continue an open discourse with all parties throughout the duration of the process. In our Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Commission solicited comment from the public and any interested party on the design and implementation of the incentive auction, including with respect to band plans repacking methodologies, and how to best address potential cross-border interference issues with Canada. We received the initial responses to this solicitation on January 25th and are awaiting further comments on March l2'h. Also, as is typical with Commission auction proceedings, we anticipate issuing further public notices that will provide additional opportunities for interested parties to comment on incentive auction issues. We will consider these and other critical inputs carefully as we formulate rules for the incentive auction. The Commission will continue to work towards designing and implementing the best possible incentive auction, while closely adhering to Congress's statutory direction with respect to broadcasters and their viewers. We will also continue to promote openness and transparency in our proceedings and actively solicit input from the broadcast community and the public at large. Through these efforts we will be able to conduct a successful auction that serves the interests of broadcasters, mobile broadband providers, other stakeholders, and the American people, alike. I appreciate your interest in this important matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you should require further assistance. We will place a copy of your inquiry and our response in the Commission's incentive auction docket. Sincerely, D Jl'112~~Gar~ Epstein Chair Incentive Auction Task Force