Full Steam Ahead on the FCC Incentive Auction Transition

The Federal Communications Commission Incentive Auction Task Force released a status update on the post-Incentive Auction transition which provides a good opportunity to provide an update on what's been accomplished and the work that remains to be done. Since the auction ended, the FCC has worked diligently on a 39-month, 10-phase transition in which 987 full power and Class A TV stations are being "repacked" to new frequencies. The plan was carefully crafted to sequence the timing to avoid interference issues and took into account other likely variables such as resource constraints and seasonal weather variations. We recognize that the three-year period posed significant challenges to the affected stations and their various vendors and are pleased to report that the stations have done a great job managing their channel re-assignment projects to meet the required schedule, and that all of the stations required to vacate their pre-auction channels to date have successfully done so. As of Dec 6, 2019, 697 of the 987 repacked stations have moved off their pre-auction channel, representing 71 percent of the total repacked stations. Seventy-nine percent of those transitioned stations have fully completed their transition to permanent facilities.

[Jean Kiddoo and Hillary DeNigro are Chair and Deputy Chair of the Incentive Auction Task Force, respectively].