Nat’l Ass’n of Broadcasters v. FCC

Title VI of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, Pub. L. No. 112-96, 126 Stat. 156, known as the Spectrum Act, authorizes the FCC to shift a portion of the licensed airwaves from over-the-air television broadcasters to mobile broadband providers. The Act directs the Commission to carry out the objective of repurposing spectrum through three interdependent initiatives: (i) a reverse auction to determine the prices at which broadcasters would voluntarily sell their spectrum rights; (ii) a reassignment of broadcasters who wish to retain their rights to new channels in a smaller band of spectrum; and (iii) a forward auction to sell the blocks of newly available spectrum to wireless providers, with the proceeds used to compensate broadcasters who voluntarily relinquished their spectrum rights and to pay the relocation expenses of broadcasters reassigned to new channels. Members of the television broadcast industry petitioned for review of the Commission's orders, arguing that the decisions announced in the orders conflict with the Act or are otherwise arbitrary and capricious. The court rejected petitioners’ contention at Chevron step one that the statute unambiguously forecloses the Commission’s use of the improved TVStudy program along with updated data inputs when applying OET-69 to determine a broadcaster’s coverage area and population served; the court rejected petitioners’ argument that the Commission’s decision to use TVStudy and updated inputs amounts to an unreasonable interpretation of the Act at Chevron step two; the court rejected petitioners' arbitrary-and-capricious arguments; in regards to petitioners' procedural challenge, any error in OET’s (rather than the Commission’s) issuing the Public Notice was harmless; and the court rejected petitioners' remaining arguments. Accordingly, the court denied the petitions for review. View "Nat'l Ass'n of Broadcasters v. FCC" on Justia Law