The Federal Communications Commission has voted to deny a petition by broadcasters to reconsider its authorization of one of the former database administrators for the TV white spaces, Nominet UK which has since sold its database management tech to  RED Technologies). White spaces are spectrum in the TV band between channels that the FCC is allowing for unlicensed use.

FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel had signaled the agency would vote at its January 27 meeting to reject the petition, but the vote came early and was released Wednesday (January 26).

Database managers are supposed to make sure that unlicensed signals do not interfere with incumbent TV stations by providing a list of available channels to white spaces devices.

The National Association of Broadcasters, which was never a big fan of the white spaces regime, argued in its petition that Nominet’s database contains “numerous” errors — which could lead to interference with TV-station signals — and that it should be decertified until the errors are corrected.

Nominet countered that the errors were due to difficulties importing data from the FCC and it had “immediately” corrected the problem. The FCC was apparently assuaged.

“We find that the database errors discovered by NAB, which were immediately corrected by Nominet, are not grounds to revoke the designation of Nominet as a white space database administrator,” it said in denying the petition.

The FCC thanked NAB for its input, but suggested it was “no harm, no foul.”

“While we are denying NAB’s petition, we underscore that we appreciate NAB bringing these concerns to the attention of the commission and Nominet so that the errors could be remedied,” the order said. “However, we do not believe that these errors show any fundamental deficiency on the part of the database administrator but appear to be the result of issues related to the Commission’s transition from the CDBS [its consolidated database system] to the LMS [licensing and management system] combined with an inadvertent failure by Nominet to include all of the latest updates in its final version of the database.”

NAB had not been pressing the petition given that Nominet had sold its database to RED Technologies  ■

Stage three of the forward portion of the FCC's spectrum auction began and ended Monday when forward auction bidders again refused to up their prices for reclaimed broadcast spectrum.

In fact, the total after stage there was lower -- $19,676,240,520 -- because the FCC reduced the amount of spectrum and the bidders simply reduced their demand along with it. That means the FCC will lower its spectrum-clearing target and proceed to stage four of the reverse auction, likely in only a few days.

Stage three of the reverse auction ended last week with broadcasters new asking price now $40,313,164,425 for 108 MHz of spectrum. In stage two, the price was $55 billion for 114 MHZ, but forward auction bidders, who had only ponied up $22 billion in stage one toward an opening price of $86 billion for 126 MHZ did not budge, simply reducing their demand rather than up the price.

They did the same Monday, signaling broadcasters will have to drop their prices yet again, and wireless companies will get access to even less spectrum, in stage four.

The FCC has nine different spectrum targets. Stage three of the reverse auction launched Nov. 1 at a 108 MHz clearing target. The next target is 84 MHz, which some see as the potential equilibrium point between broadcasters' asks and forward bidders' offers, perhaps around a $30 billion number.

The lower the clearing target goes without wireless bidders covering the reverse figure, the more broadcasters question wireless bidder cries of a spectrum crunch necessitating the auction in the first place.

The auction was designed for multiple rounds since it is bidders on both sides, not the FCC, that is determining the price point at which the spectrum is more valuable to wireless bidders for broadband than broadcasters for over-the-air service.

The FCC says the spectrum auction will start March 29, on schedule, even with the news that a federal court is allowing an LPTV station owned by Latina Broadcasters of Daytona Beach back into the auction.

"In response to last night’s ruling by the D.C. Circuit, we will permit Latina Broadcasters to participate provisionally in the Incentive Auction, subject to the outcome of judicial review," the FCC said.

That review won't be completed until at least September -- when oral argument has been scheduled.

"The auction will commence on Tuesday, March 29, as scheduled, the FCC continued. It had argued that letting Latina back in could delay the auction by several weeks, but that could have been the completion rather than the start.

The FCC said it was also supplementing its brief with a letter to the court "explaining that, while the Court expressed its expectation that allowing Latina to participate will not cause the auction to be delayed, granting Videohouse’s request for a stay or provisional participation will cause substantial delay and resulting harm to the public.”

The court said it had checked the FCC's web site and it appeared that the data showed the FCC was already including Latina in its calculations. The FCC initially told Latina it was eligible, then on Feb. 12, a month after the deadline for applicants -- Latina applied -- said that had been a mistake.

WASHINGTON — According to a source familiar with meetings Wednesday (June 17) between various spectrum auction stakeholders and Federal Communcations Commission staffers, the agency plans to drop dynamic reserve pricing (DRP), an approach to TV-station pricing in the incentive auction that broadcasters had argued would artificially lower their payouts.

The FCC is also planning to stick with 30 Megahertz in the spectrum reserve for competitive carriers in the forward auction, rather than the 40 MHz some — notably T-Mobile — had been pushing for.

The agency will vote on the auction structure rulemaking proposal, as well as the spectrum holdings public notice, at the July 16 public meeting.

Broadcasters have also been signaled that they will get more information about the auction within rounds, with the FCC letting them know how close they are to reaching the agency's final price for their spectrum.

According to the source, while the dreaded DRP is dead, the FCC did not take the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters coalition’s advice on how to replace it, or to give less weight to population covered when it came to calculating a station's price and value in the auction, as the EOBC had suggested, though getting DRP off the table was a big plus.

The FCC staffers are said to have met with low power and full-power broadcasters to outline the proposals, as well as wireless carriers who will be bidding for the freed-up spectrum.

The items still have to be voted, so the deal is not yet, but these are the proposals FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has offered up, presumably with enough votes to pass them.

"The proposal eliminates bidding procedures that many commenters believed were burdensome and could limit broadcaster participation," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler blogged late Wednesday, though without saying specifically it was DRP that was being axed. "It also adopts a formula for opening bid prices that creates value for both broadcasters and American taxpayers," he continued. "The proposal responds to requests to make more information about bidding available to bidders before and during the auction. And it ensures that competitive wireless carriers and new entrants have a clear shot at adding sufficient low-band spectrum to their portfolios so that they can compete more effectively in both rural and urban areas."

That would be the 30 MHz of low-band spectrum being reserved for carriers other than Verizon and AT&T.