The FCC filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Dec. 16 defending the incentive auction order it adopted in May (TR, June 1, 2014) as well as a repacking declaratory ruling approved in September (TR, Oct. 15, 2014). The brief argues that the court should reject legal challenges filed by the National Association of Broadcasters and Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. "The Order is a reasonable exercise of the FCC's authority under the Spectrum Act [part of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012] to adopt rules and policies to encourage broadcast television stations to relinquish spectrum usage rights, and to repack stations that elect to remain on the air, so that broadcast spectrum can be repurposed for wireless broadband and other valuable services," the FCC said in the brief. "The statute does not require the Commission to make the remaining broadcasters better off - instead, it requires only 'reasonable efforts' to 'preserve' their coverage area and population served using the methodology described in OET Bulletin 69. 47 U.S.C. § 1452(b)."
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