FCC Duplex Plan Bad News For Broadcasters

[Commentary] The promise of the incentive auction was that volunteering broadcasters would be paid for the value of their spectrum. The duplex gap plan seems designed instead artificially to reduce the prices the Federal Communications Commission may have to pay in crowded and border markets. If the FCC is going to be the honest broker it claims to be in the upcoming auction, it should not be placing its finger on the scale.

[Jack Goodman practices communications law in Washington and was previously general counsel of the National Association of Broadcasters]