FCC Has Run Open Process on Incentive Auction, Padden Says

As Congress looks at FCC process reform (see 1504300063), Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition Executive Director Preston Padden said the agency's work on the TV incentive auction rulemakings “have been the most open and transparent proceedings I have seen in 40 years of being around the FCC.” Staffers working on the auction have provided all stakeholders “unlimited access” on issues as they come up, he said Friday. Before the report and order in May 2014, Chairman Tom Wheeler "invited every stakeholder group to visit with him for ‘one last shot’ to make their best arguments,” Padden said. “This was unprecedented. The FCC has not done everything our coalition has asked, by a long shot, but we could have no complaint about the openness, transparency and diligence of the process."