University weighs options in FCC spectrum auction
While Central Michigan University considers its options in the Federal Communications Commission broadcast incentive auction, employees at WCMU, including student workers, have been told not to discuss the issue with the media.
"The anti-collusion rule prohibits any talk about the decision made and the discussions leading up to a decision," said Steven Smith, director of public relations.
The Board of Trustees voted last month to apply for eligibility to participate in the spectrum auction.
Sarah Opperman, chair of the Finance and Facilities Committee, read the proposed resolution and said the board would not discuss anything beyond the resolution, citing concerns over anti-collusion laws.
Mary Jane Flanagan, secretary to the board of trustees, said the auction was not discussed at any of the committee meetings on Dec. 16 before the board meeting. The board does not keep minutes for committee meetings.
Before it decides whether to participate, CMU must first be accepted as eligible for the reverse auction. The FCC can reject CMU’s application and prevent it from participating. Smith said the university will receive a response on its eligibility from the FCC sometime before March 29. Due to the federal anti-collusion laws the board will not be able to share the results of the application publicly, Smith added.
If CMU participates, the university will have four options, according to a fact sheet released by University Communications.
- Sell the university’s broadcast licenses and discontinue to broadcast under the license. If this option is chosen and the licenses for all five stations are sold in the auction, CMU public broadcasting would be taken off the air. If the license for only one or a few of the stations were sold, however, the remaining stations would continue to broadcast to their respective areas.
- Share a channel with another broadcaster. This option allows CMU Public Television to sell spectrum but retain its broadcasting license and continue broadcast by sharing a 6 MHz spectrum with another station.
- Sell the broadcast licenses and move the broadcast to a VHF, or very high frequency channel. CMUPB broadcasts its shows on ultra-high frequency, or UHF. Ken Kolbe, general manager of CMU Public Broadcasting, said the primary difference between the two is that VHF would not allow for mobile television and could result in a lower quality picture for viewers.
- Decline to participate in the auction. If the university does not participate, the channels for the broadcast may still be moved as part of the repackaging process by the FCC. In that situation CMU would be responsible for the costs of making the move to a new channel. Provost Michael Gealt cited this as a reason for applying for eligibility during an Academic Senate meeting on Jan. 12.
“If you are not a participant, but they want your bandwidth, they can move you from a UHF station to a VHF station without even asking if you want to move,” Gealt said. “You would then have all the costs associated with that move.”
After March 29, the auction will be held on a date provided to each applicant. Once the auction is over, there will be a 39-month transition period during which the FCC will “repackage” the spectrum sold for internet service providers. During this time, any broadcasters who participated in the auction can continue to air content on television.
CMU owns five stations: WCMU (Mount Pleasant), WCMZ (Flint), WCML (Alpena), WCMW (Manistee) and WCMV (Cadillac). According to information published by the university Jan. 12, CMU invests nearly $1.7 million a year in its public broadcasting stations.
An FCC document listing approximate opening bids for each station states all five stations reach a combined value of $780 million and an audience of 6.56 million. The majority of that audience is served by WCMZ, which reaches 5.13 million viewers.
