Groundhog Day: FCC Budget Contains Spectrum Fee Authority...Again

The FCC and Obama administration have once again proposed spectrum fee authority for the agency, which the FCC says "could be useful in some circumstances."

One of those might be to encourage broadcasters to give up spectrum for auction.

Fees would be phased in "to determine the appropriate application and level for fees," beginning in 2012 and totaling $4.8 billion over the next decade.

If past is prologue, the spectrum fees will wind up on the cutting-room floor after Congress has its say.

Spectrum fees have been part of the White House budget, released Monday, for years now without making into the final version.

The FCC has asked for $346,782,000, down from the $354.2 million it sought last year.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.