Pai Unveiling C-Band Plan Feb. 6

FCC chairman Ajit Pai plans to take the wraps off his long-awaited C-Band satellite spectrum item Thursday, Feb. 6, the same day he is expected to circulate it to the other commissioners for their perusal. 

Related: Pai Proposes FCC Auction of C-Band 

That is according to the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, which said the chairman is outlining the item in a speech in Washington that day. 

Pai has said he plans to vote the item at the FCC's February meeting. 

The item will almost certainly include a public auction of 280 MHz of the 500 MHz in the C-Band, midband spectrum that is beachfront property for 5G, plus 20 MHz for a guard band.  

Some of the auction's proceeds will go to pay moving expenses for satellite operators and their broadcast and cable clients. 

But still to be determined is how much the FCC may allocate from auction proceeds for satellite operators as an incentive to move to smaller spectrum quarters ASAP, as those operators have said is necessary and if there will be any incentive payments to the cable operators and broadcasters who receive their network and remote programming from those satellite operators.  

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.