Kerry Aide: No Consensus, No Incentive Auctions

Danny Sepulveda, an aide to Sen John Kerry (D-MA), said that unless the Federal Communications Commission, computer and wireless companies, and broadcasters can come to a meeting on the minds about freeing up mobile broadband, legislation giving the FCC the power to hold incentive auctions isn't going to happen.

He also said Congress would want to know how much they will be paying broadcasters. "If we are going to approve an incentive auction system and not know how much of the public's money is going to be transferred to private actors, that is going to be a real challenge for Congress," Sepulveda said, adding that there would have to be some kind of cap on the payment as well. Sen Kerry has co-sponsored a bill that would give the FCC the authority to hold an incentive auction, which would allow it to compensate broadcasters for giving over spectrum for wireless broadband. Sepulveda said not to look for any action on that bill in the lame duck session, and suggested that a lot more needed to be done before it could pass, including getting all the panelists on the same page, educating the public about the spectrum crunch and giving Congress and broadcasters a better idea of how much money it was going to be transferring from the government to private industry.