Fresh from its victory in helping get the FCC to propose loosening its incentive auction TV channel sharing framework, the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition has created a best guesstimate timeline for FCC incentive auction action.
The timeline was prepared by EOBC and its lawyers, not by the FCC, and extends beyond the auction, which EOBC expects to last up to six months starting in first quarter 2016, to events beyond the auction, like repacking and channel reassignments.
The timeline comes with a caveat that it does not take into account "future legal challenges." The NAB and Sinclair have sued the FCC over its auction framework, though FCC chairman Tom Wheeler told an NAB crowd in Las Vegas Wednesday (April 15) that he thought that was a "bump in the road" they could get over.
EOBC represents stations interested in participating in the auction under the right rules and at the right price. Those almost certainly also include National Association of Broadcasters members (EOBC does not have to identify its members), but EOBC has been the lead advocate for rules friendly to auction-interested stations.
To check out the mileposts EOBC has identified, go here.
