FCC Can't 'Justify' Reverse Auction Pricing Plan, Padden Says

The FCC can’t “justify from a legal or policy standpoint” offering stations with the same impact on spectrum clearing vastly different opening prices in the incentive auction, Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition Executive Director Preston Padden told Incentive Auction Task Force Chairman Gary Epstein, Vice Chair Howard Symons and Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake in a meeting Tuesday, an ex parte filing said. The proposed use of dynamic reserve pricing in the auction “is overly complicated and will introduce unnecessary impairment and potential inter-service interference to the auction,” Padden said. The commission should also loosen rules against disclosures among auction-eligible broadcasters, Padden said. “The Commission should adopt rules consistent with its recognition of the need to provide broadcasters with the information they need to make sensible business judgments and an opportunity for price discovery,” he said.