The FCC has extended the comment deadline for comment on the proposed competitive bidding procedures for the broadcast incentive auction so that interested parties would not have to divert any resources from the ongoing AWS-3 auction and could also take into account "lessons learned" from that auction in their comments. But it did not give those parties as much time as they asked for.
That AWS-3 auction has slowed, but was still going at press time.
The commission on Dec. 17 released its public notice seeking comment on auction design and procedure, setting the comment and reply comment deadlines at Jan. 30 and Feb. 27, respectively. The FCC has now extended those to Feb. 13 and March 13.
The Consumer Electronics Association and CTIA: The Wireless Association, with support from the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, had asked for a 30-day extension of both deadlines given the "novel" issues raised by the auction and the resources they were focusing on the current AWS-3 auction. They also pointed out that there were a number of other comment dates coming due at about the same time.
The FCC only gave them an extra 14 days for each, simply saying that that "should provide sufficient additional time..."
