By Steve Lovelady, CommLawBlog, April 13, 2014
| Does the report on the first formal tests of a TV channel-sharing | arrangement really say what FCC Chair Tom Wheeler says it says? YOU | make the call. | | At the recent NAB Show in Las Vegas, Chairman Wheeler came on like | a cheerleader at a pep rally, touting the upcoming incentive | auction program. (For readers who weren't there, it was something | like Darth Vader trying to sell the Rebel Alliance on the obvious | benefits available to Empire participants.) According to Wheeler, | the auction presents "a terrific financial opportunity for | broadcasters" -- and that's because of the possibility of certain | cooperative agreements between TV licensees. This is, of course, | the same Chairman Wheeler who, just days earlier, had put the | kibosh on cooperation between TV licensees in the shape of joint | sales agreements (while also raising a critical eyebrow at shared | services agreements and joint retransmission consent negotiations). | | But those types of cooperation are different. | | In Vegas, Wheeler was talking about channel-sharing arrangements in | which two stations use common transmission facilities, arrangements | which can provide "under-considered and under-appreciated" | benefits. And how is he so sure about that? It turns out that a | report has been prepared describing the first formal test of | channel sharing and, to hear the Chairman tell it, the report makes | a "compelling case" for that practice. He said that he hopes | broadcasters "closely study" the report.
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As T-D readers may recall from my previous posts, Tom Wheeler is the current Chairman of the FCC and the former President of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA). Not to be confused with Michael Powell, the current President of the NCTA and former Chairman of the FCC.
The revolving door revolves both ways.
Neal McLain