King County Concerned About Spectrum Auction Impact

[eridani]

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/washington/community-concerned-about-spectrum-auction-impact/154726

"The auction is scheduled to begin on March 29 and concerned groups believe local stations like Seattle’s KING 5 are first in line to be auctioned off by greedy speculators," said the union in its release. "These stations are required by federal law to inform and educate the community over the public airwaves. That will all be gone when these broadcast frequencies are sold off to private businesses."

An IBEW union rep speaking at the council meeting before the vote said she represented workers at Seattle stations KING, KOMO, KIRO and KCTS. She said the auction would incentivize those stations to go off the air, to be replaced by cable or Internet companies with no regulatory or licensing obligations.

Another labor leader told the council that it was a case of companies selling off scarce public spectrum for private profit. She said the goal of the auction was not the public interest and that she was worried about hedge funds speculating in the licenses.

Twedell also spoke at the auction, pointing out they were having labor issues with Tegna, but said that was not why they were backing the study. He said he wanted the county to protect itself from a "stealth rip-off of a public asset."

He said when you need to know if it is safe to go to school, or go outside, or drink the water, you depend on local TV to tell you. The auction would be "throwing that away," he said.

[pugetres]

1. This is the first that I've heard about this

and it is very concerning.

But, that article shared nothing about what we can do.

I had to wiki spectrum auction - A spectrum auction is a process whereby a government uses an auction system to sell the rights (licences) to transmit signals over specific bands of the electromagnetic spectrum and to assign scarce spectrum resources. Depending on the specific auction format used, a spectrum auction can last from a single day to several months from the opening bid to the final winning bid. With a well-designed auction, resources are allocated efficiently to the parties that value them the most, the government securing revenue in the process.[1] Spectrum auctions are a step toward market-based spectrum management and privatization of public airwaves, and are a way for governments to allocate scarce resources. Alternatives to auctions include administrative licensing, such as the comparative hearings conducted historically (sometimes referred to as "beauty contests&quot , or lotteries.

Thank you for posting about it. Hopefully I can find some more information over the next week.

[eridani]

2. Dave Upthegrove of the King County Council is at least trying to shed light on the issue n/t

[jtuck004]

4. "and are a way for governments to allocate scarce resources" to the people with the most money, who

can then shape the information we hear, so they can shape our behavior for their profit.

Think of all the advantages people get from having Comcast as the only somewhat speedy and reliable inet service. I haven'gt spoken to a customer of theirs yet who, given a decent alternative, wouldn't walk away. But they can't, because there is no competition allowed. That's what happens when you sell public resources to just the few.

Without that we might find easier ways to cooperate and train each other, fulfilling he promise of "public airwaves".

[pnwmom]

3. Here's more info about the FCC Spectrum Auction.

It seems strange that Seattle waited so long to study this.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2994217/mobile-wireless/faq-the-fcc-s-upcoming-broadcast-tv-spectrum-auction.html