Remarks of William T. Lake 

Chief, Media Bureau, FCC 

 

APTS Public Media Summit 2013

 
February 25, 2013 
Hyatt Regency Crystal City 
Arlington, VA 
 
Thanks very much.     The theme of this year’s Summit, 
“public service media,” captures much of what’s going well 
with public broadcasting today -- and the challenges it faces. 
 
When we look around, much is good.  Public broadcasting 
seems to have a bigger role in American life than ever before.   
 
•  This year again, PBS is rated the most trusted institution in 
the country and the second-best use of federal tax dollars, 
after the military.   
•  Big Bird found himself (or is it herself?) a factor in the 
presidential election.   
•  NPR’s audience continues to grow; its app is one of the 
most popular for the iPhone and the iPad.  NPR podcasts 
are downloaded over 15 million times a month; and NPR’s 
mobile website is viewed almost 5 million times a week. 
•  When PBS made a schedule change that moved the 
popular Independent Lens film program to a less 
convenient time, film makers and loyal viewers raised 
such a stink that PBS moved it back. 
•  Downton Abbey made the ups and downs of early 20th 
Century British aristocracy a matter of passionate concern 
to millions of Americans – so passionate that Matthew 
Crawley’s death last week caused more funk across the 
country than Washington’s looming sequestration.  
(Spoiler apology to my friend Rebecca, who hasn’t 
reached that episode yet.)    
 
The media landscape is changing rapidly, and public 
broadcasting has done much to stay at the center of what is 
now a broad and diverse network of public service media.  
That network now includes many other entities, with public 
1 
 

---

broadcasters the essential hub.  As consumers have come to 
view the Internet and mobile devices as sources of news and 
entertainment, public stations have gone multi-platform, to be 
available wherever and whenever a consumer wants to find 
content.  And, as new sources of content have arisen, public 
broadcasters have embraced them, often partnering with 
other public service entities.  
 
You all know better than I how public stations have led 
and innovated in this regard.  One example I like is Be Well 
Kentucky, a collaboration by station KET with community 
groups to produce a 13-part television series and online 
content addressing health issues in that state.  The online 
website offers health information, programming schedules, 
and toolkits for community involvement.  KET followed up 
with on-the-ground health literacy workshops for children, 
families, and minority populations.  When the Commission 
was putting together its National Broadband Plan, APTS 
brought to our attention many other cases in which public 
stations have seized the opportunities presented by today’s 
multifaceted public service media world.   
 
But challenges remain.  Many public stations are working 
to heed the call by the Knight Commission to become more 
local, more inclusive, and more interactive.  They are moving 
to evolve content that appeals to a younger demographic 
more accustomed to digital media.  And they are challenged 
to pick up even more responsibility for providing the 
journalism our democracy needs, in light of the financial 
stresses hitting many newspapers.  
 
Meeting these needs, while deploying new platforms and 
networking with new partners -- these all cost money, at a 
time when Federal funding is flat and uncertain and other 
funding sources are stressed by the long recession.  Even the 
inhabitants of Downton Abbey learned, this season, that they 
had to put the estate on a better financial footing to ensure its 
future.  Public stations have to do likewise.  I know that Pat 
and Lonna, and their colleagues at CPB, have led 
aggressively to meet the dual challenges of finding additional 
2 
 

---

revenue and achieving efficiencies by rationalizing the public 
television network as a whole. 
 
You knew that I would get to the incentive auction that we 
are planning for next year.  That auction offers help in 
meeting both of these challenges.  Contributions of spectrum 
to the auction can bring a major capital infusion for cash- 
strapped public entities.  And the options of channel sharing 
or a move from UHF to VHF offer a way for a public station 
to receive a capital infusion and remain on the air, continuing 
to serve its viewers. 
   
At the same time, participation in the auction offers a one-
time opportunity to address the inefficiencies of overlapping 
coverage and duplication of programming in markets that 
have grown up over time to have multiple PBS stations.  If 
public stations seize that opportunity and are willing to make 
some hard decisions, they can prove to Congress and the 
public that they are capable of rationalizing their operations, 
so that neither government nor private dollars will be wasted 
on inefficiency.  There will never be a better time to address 
this issue than now, when doing so through the auction offers 
not only ongoing cost savings but the additional payoff of a 
capital infusion.  In the words of the proverb, “Seize 
opportunity by the beard, for it is bald behind.” 
 
There’s another reason why public stations may want to 
see the incentive auction succeed.  Your move onto the 
online platform gives you a strong interest in universal access 
to broadband.  In the public broadcasting sphere, universal 
service has meant having a public station available to 
everyone in the country.  Now that public media are going 
multi-platform, that goal includes making sure that people 
can view your content online.  There are reports that limited 
broadband has already begun to constrain the efforts of 
public stations to reach diverse and underserved audiences.  
For example, Next Door Neighbors, a Nashville Public 
Television program that serves local immigrant and refugee 
communities, relies on broadband to reach its audience, most 
of which accesses the content online.  But the lack of access 
3 
 

---

to broadband in rural areas of middle Tennessee — areas that 
include large immigrant constituencies — hinders that 
objective.  Public television’s mission demands that we 
succeed in bridging the digital divide.  A successful incentive 
auction will help mobile broadband to be part of the solution.    
 
Your Association leadership has been active on the 
auction front as well.  In addition to the webinars that APTS 
helped the FCC to organize, APTS and PBS arranged 
webinars on valuation, engineering, and legal questions.  
APTS is working with a major law firm to drill down on the 
legal issues that public stations may face in positioning 
themselves for the auction and to plan for channel sharing, 
and with valuation experts and others from the financial 
community to evaluate the various economic opportunities.  
We understand that they are prioritizing working with 
stations that may be interested in channel sharing or possible 
auction participation.  And we are encouraged that some 
public stations are reaching out to commercial stations in 
their markets to explore channel sharing opportunities.  As 
you surely know, we are available to help you with any and 
all of the above. 
 
We are working hard to move the incentive auction to a 
reality that public stations can fully evaluate.  In October we 
released an extensive Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 
inviting comment on every aspect of  
•  what we call the “reverse auction,” in which 
broadcasters will volunteer their spectrum;  
•  the “forward auction,” in which wireless companies 
will bid for the spectrum to provide wireless service; 
•  the repacking of the broadcast band after the auction; 
and  
•  the transition for broadcasters that are required to 
change channels in the repack.   
 
Initial comments were due on January 25.  We received 
about 250 comments, roughly 70 of which were extensive.  
The public broadcasting community submitted very helpful 
views, both on how the auction should work for stations that 
4 
 

---

want to participate and on how the repacking and the 
transition should treat stations that do not participate.  That 
submission was especially helpful on issues that relate 
particularly to public stations, such as maintaining universal 
access to public TV services and the details of channel 
sharing.  We’re giving careful attention to all the comments 
we received. 
 
Reply comments will be due March 12, and our goal is to 
adopt auction rules this year and hold the auction in 2014.  
The order we hope to adopt this year will be an important 
milestone, but it will not end the process of preparing for the 
auction.  We expect to issue additional public notices to 
invite comment on more detailed proposals, in a transparent 
process that will continue up until the auction itself.   
 
Last Friday was the first anniversary of the passage of the 
Spectrum Act that launched the auction proceeding, and I am 
pleased with how far we’ve come in this short time.  Even a 
year ago, many broadcasters found the auction concept 
foreign and were reticent even to think about participating.  
Now, one reads news articles about how KCSM is 
incorporating possible auction participation into its plans for 
sale.  Similarly, CPBI has asked in its rulemaking comments 
that we facilitate its contribution of WEDY to the auction.  In 
a short year, both public and commercial stations have 
recognized that the auction is an economic opportunity worth 
considering, and participation has become an acceptable 
business option.  With pleasure in that progress, we look 
forward to continuing to work with you to make the auction a 
success for all concerned. 
 
Thank you, and I’m happy to take your questions!  
5 
 

---

Document Outline

• Remarks of William T. Lake
• Chief, Media Bureau, FCC
• UAPTS Public Media Summit 2013
• February 25, 2013
• Hyatt Regency Crystal City
• Arlington, VA
• Thanks very much. The theme of this years Summit, public service media, captures much of whats going well with public broadcasting today -- and the challenges it faces.
• When we look around, much is good. Public broadcasting seems to have a bigger role in American life than ever before.
• This year again, PBS is rated the most trusted institution in the country and the second-best use of federal tax dollars, after the military.
• Big Bird found himself (or is it herself?) a factor in the presidential election.
• NPRs audience continues to grow; its app is one of the most popular for the iPhone and the iPad. NPR podcasts are downloaded over 15 million times a month; and NPRs mobile website is viewed almost 5 million times a week.
• When PBS made a schedule change that moved the popular Independent Lens film program to a less convenient time, film makers and loyal viewers raised such a stink that PBS moved it back.
• Downton Abbey made the ups and downs of early 20PthP Century British aristocracy a matter of passionate concern to millions of Americans so passionate that Matthew Crawleys death last week caused more funk across the country than Washingtons loo...
• The media landscape is changing rapidly, and public broadcasting has done much to stay at the center of what is now a broad and diverse network of public service media. That network now includes many other entities, with public broadcasters the essen...
• You all know better than I how public stations have led and innovated in this regard. One example I like is Be Well Kentucky, a collaboration by station KET with community groups to produce a 13-part television series and online content addressing he...
• But challenges remain. Many public stations are working to heed the call by the Knight Commission to become more local, more inclusive, and more interactive. They are moving to evolve content that appeals to a younger demographic more accustomed to ...
• Meeting these needs, while deploying new platforms and networking with new partners -- these all cost money, at a time when Federal funding is flat and uncertain and other funding sources are stressed by the long recession. Even the inhabitants of Do...
• You knew that I would get to the incentive auction that we are planning for next year. That auction offers help in meeting both of these challenges. Contributions of spectrum to the auction can bring a major capital infusion for cash- strapped publi...
• At the same time, participation in the auction offers a one-time opportunity to address the inefficiencies of overlapping coverage and duplication of programming in markets that have grown up over time to have multiple PBS stations. If public station...
• Theres another reason why public stations may want to see the incentive auction succeed. Your move onto the online platform gives you a strong interest in universal access to broadband. In the public broadcasting sphere, universal service has meant...
• Your Association leadership has been active on the auction front as well. In addition to the webinars that APTS helped the FCC to organize, APTS and PBS arranged webinars on valuation, engineering, and legal questions. APTS is working with a major l...
• We are working hard to move the incentive auction to a reality that public stations can fully evaluate. In October we released an extensive Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, inviting comment on every aspect of
• what we call the reverse auction, in which broadcasters will volunteer their spectrum;
• the forward auction, in which wireless companies will bid for the spectrum to provide wireless service;
• the repacking of the broadcast band after the auction; and
• the transition for broadcasters that are required to change channels in the repack.
• Initial comments were due on January 25. We received about 250 comments, roughly 70 of which were extensive. The public broadcasting community submitted very helpful views, both on how the auction should work for stations that want to participate an...
• Reply comments will be due March 12, and our goal is to adopt auction rules this year and hold the auction in 2014. The order we hope to adopt this year will be an important milestone, but it will not end the process of preparing for the auction. We...
• Last Friday was the first anniversary of the passage of the Spectrum Act that launched the auction proceeding, and I am pleased with how far weve come in this short time. Even a year ago, many broadcasters found the auction concept foreign and were ...
• Thank you, and Im happy to take your questions!

---