If you have any thoughts about participating in the reverse auction, check this out: the Commission has announced that its on-line tutorial on the pre-auction process will be up and running on November 20, 2015. It’ll cover pre-auction procedures, auction conduct and the bidding system, and will provide guidance on how to complete reverse auction applications. You’ll be able to navigate the tutorial at your leisure and search for specific topics; you’ll also get links to auction-specific Commission materials, contact information for FCC auction staff, and screen shots of the online application and bidding system. All you’ll need will be a browser with Adobe Flash Player. You should be able to find the tutorial through the Auction 1001 web page on the FCC’s site – go to the “Education” tab and select the “Auction Tutorial” from the options.
As we have said before, the Broadcast Incentive Auction is an ambitious, innovative process. It’s new to the FCC, and it’s new to the rest of us. Would-be bidders should take advantage of any and all information that might help get them properly oriented. In this case, it would probably be an excellent idea to thoroughly work through the tutorial before the workshop, and then to attend the previously-announced reverse auction workshop to make sure you have a solid handle on things.
Meanwhile, an update on that workshop. Last month we reported that the workshop would be held on November 17 … but that was back when the window for filing Form 177 (the ticket into the reverse auction) was set to close on December 18. Since then, of course, the Form 177 window has been re-set to remain open until January 12, 2016. And now the workshop has been re-scheduled to December 8, 2015 from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. The details we previously reported will still apply: same place (Commission Meeting Room in D.C.); same pre-registration process (submit name and company affiliation to auction1001@fcc.gov, with the subject line “Reverse Auction Workshop”); same remote access (live-streamed at www.fcc.gov/live). If you had already pre-registered for the original date, no worries: you’re in, and you don’t need to re-up for the new date.
