FCC Broadcast buyback program..?

[Garrett Wollman]

<<On Mon, 21 Dec 2015 06:21:58 -0500 (EST), Rob Landry <011010001@interpring.com> said:

> Otherwise, why wouldn't the FCC just hold a hearing to determine whether 
> the "public interest, convenience, and necessity" is better served by 
> licensing a particular allocation to a TV channel or to a mobile broadband 
> company?

Because the broadcasting industry -- or at least the NAB -- has
friends in Congress, and Congress long ago determined that it would be
done this way.  Also, there is (now) a legal presumption that renewing
existing licenses is in the public interest, which is a high bar to
cross for any prospective replacement licensee.

You'll recall that when MediaFLO was rolled out, they had to buy out
all of the channel 55 licensees in the country -- and it was already
decided that channel 55 was going to be removed from the television
service anyway.

-GAWollman