WASHINGTON-The team brought on at the Federal Communications Commission to create the incentive auction architecture will stay on for the repack and the spectrum hand-off, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told lawmakers this week.
I recognize that getting the transition right is as important as getting the auction itself right, he said in his prepared statement before the oversight hearing held by the Senate Commerce Committee. Like the auction, the transition will be a complex, multi-disciplinary effort that will span several years. The task force approach has served us well in designing and implementing the auction, and I believe it is the appropriate structure for ensuring that the transition has the focus and attention it requires. I therefore intend to maintain the task force when the auction is complete; as we move forward, its mission will evolve from auction to transition.
The FCC Incentive Auction Task Force is led by Gary Epstein, who previously was the Common Carrier Bureau chief under Chairman Mark Fowler, and the first head of the DTV transition efforts under Acting Chairman Michael Copps. Howard Symons is vice chair of the Task Force. His experience includes practicing telecom law in the private sector, senior counsel on the House telecom subcommittee, and an adjunct professorship at George Washington University's National Law Center. Charlie Meisch serves as senior advisor for communications and public affairs.
Wheeler said the commission had been focused on post-auction planning for over a year, including the release of the draft relocation reimbursement form and a reimbursement cost catalog, and we've already begun to pivot and to accelerate our planning for the post-auction transition.
Tensions were high at the hearing. The partisan personalities of the commission were on display over issues such as its legislative authority and whether its actions have depressed broadband deployment.
Topics raised by congressional committee members were improvements to rural broadband deployment, the upcoming television incentive auction and innovation in the video market.
Half way through the three-hour-long hearing, issues of disagreement bubbled to the surface regarding the commission's stance on innovation and competition as it effects the Internet, and whether the rules that the FCC adopted in its Open Internet Order last year have spurred or limited innovation. In that order the FCC reclassified Internet providers' offerings as telecommunications services under Title II of the Communications Act.
When called on to share his opinion, Commissioner Ajit Pai didn't mince words.
What we've seen is the fact that among providers, innovation is slowing, he said. The industry is seeing one of the largest declines in broadband wireless investment due to the commission's actions via the Open Internet Order and Title II, he said.
Wheeler disagreed: With all due respect to my colleague, what he's just portrayed as facts are not, he said; rather, investment and usage of the Internet is up.
Back and forth squabbling ensued. The regulatory infrastructure we have built is now depressing broadband investment, Pai replied. Facts speak for themselves.
Members of the committee also asked for FCC action on issues such as cramming, which involves the addition of unauthorized charges on a consumer's phone bill, and spoofing, in which a caller ID service is used to knowingly misidentify a caller.
Wrapping up the hearing was a question posed by Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) to Wheeler on whether he will follow precedent and commit to resigning his chairmanship after a new president is elected in November. The FCC chairman traditionally resigns his chair unless asked to remain at the helm by the newly elected president.
Wheeler told the panel that the election was too far in the future for him to make an ironclad commitment one way or another. Wheeler's term officially ends in January 2018.
Deborah D. McAdams contributed to this story.
Learn more about the post-incentive auction channel repack Tuesday, March 8, during an exclusive Webinar featuring the FCC's Howard Symons; NAB's Patrick McFadden and RF experts Jay Adrick and S. Merrill Weiss. Register here.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
WASHINGTON-The team brought on at the Federal Communications Commission to create the incentive auction architecture will stay on for the repack and the spectrum hand-off, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told lawmakers this week. 
