TV spectrum auctions likely to fail if GOP bill accepted

... says Blair Levin, former FCC staffer who's described as the chief architect of the Commission's 2010 National Broadband Plan.  The GOP version of this legislation:

... contains provisions designed to protect broadcasters who hang on to their spectrum. And they are what has Levin worried.  ¶  "The legislation ties the FCC’s hands in a variety of ways," said Levin, who left the FCC following release of the broadband plan and is now attached to the Aspen Institute. "It opens it up to litigation risk, which then, in conjunction with the other handcuffs, makes it difficult to pull off a successful auction.  ¶  "The nature of the bill dramatically increases the probability that there will be less spectrum recovered and less money for the [U.S.] Treasury."

Link:  Article by Kim McAvoy in  TVNewsCheck.  Thanks to Joyce Herring for the tip.

Also see Jon Eggerton's Levin: Current Hill Take on Spectrum Auctions Likely Won't Work in Multichannel News.  --Dennis