FCC broadband plan spokesman Mark Wigfield says the commission, by law, has to ensure that some level of over-the-air service remains in each market. That means the commission, at least under current law, can't clear the broadcast band. It also means that not everyone who wants a buyout may get it.

The Michigan Democrat tells broadcasters he's expressed concerns to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski over the commission's reallocation proposal and adds that "I remain unconvinced by arguments that broadcasters are using their remaining spectrum inefficiently."

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher says any spectrum plan coming from the government cannot be mandatory. Broadcasters should be given an option to voluntarily surrender their spectrum for auction and then receive some form of compensation for it.

Key Hill staffers at the NAB State Leadership Conference in Washington today say that an inventory of all spectrum should precede any plan to reallocate a portion of it. But, they add, passage of legislation authorizing an inventory is a top priority.

NBCU President Jeff Zucker supports broadband rollout but thinks FCC should look for spectrum elsewhere than broadcasters.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said today that as part of the commission's National Broadband Plan, it will propose a voluntary auction that would let broadcasters and other licensees sell their spectrum for a share of the proceeds.

"We are not going to force any broadcasters off the air," said Duke Law Professor Stuart Benjamin Thursday. Benjamin, the FCC's distinguished scholar in residence, was being interviewed for C-SPAN's Communicators series, prefacing most of his remarks with the disclaimer that they were his comments, not the FCC's. He attributed the above to the FCC, which seconds assurances provided to B&C by the FCC's top spectrum policy staffer

In comments to the FCC on its National Broadband Plan, the groups vow to offer "full and constructive participation." They support parts of DOJ, NTIA submissions, but call the CEA/CTIA low-power DTS plan "constructive" but "impractical."

Steve Bellaria, the commission's lead staffer on the spectrum reclamation plan says the aim is to establish "voluntary marketplace mechanism" for spectrum use, adding that broadcasters have been lobbying against a worst-case scenario that is no longer on the table — if it ever was.

Finish the outstanding spectrum issues before reallocating broadcast airwaves, Sen. Olympia Snowe suggested in a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. Snowe enumerated several open proceedings she said appeared "ready for prompt decisions that could enable the quick roll-out of significant additional spectrum."

It is looking more and more likely that the FCC's broadband road map, whenever it is released, will include directions to the nearest available spectrum. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and his broadband team have made it clear that while there is no immediate spectrum crisis, they foresee one by mid-decade, and planning for it needs to start now.

Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Friday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski described broadband as an "engine for economic growth" and emphasized that providing wireless broadband access will be an important component of the national broadband plan the commission is currently formulating. But he did give some comfort to broadcasters, who are lobbying against the FCC reallocating part of their spectrum for mobile broadband applications, by acknowledging the importance of free, over-the-air TV for millions of Americans.

The debate over whether the federal government should reclaim part, or all, of broadcasters' spectrum and reallocate it for wireless broadband applications continued at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Thursday, as representatives of broadcasters, telcos, policy groups and Wall Street argued over how the spectrum can most efficiently be used.

30-second spot, provided to stations in both English and Spanish, warns that proposals to take back broadcast spectrum could hurt viewers who depend on free, over-the-air TV.

The Obama administration is calling on federal regulators to make more  spectrum available for wireless Internet services so they can compete with broadband plans provided by the major phone and cable companies.

The Justice Department has weighed in at the FCC on the national broadband plan, echoing the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, the administration's chief telecom policy advisor, in saying that freeing up more spectrum is crucial to broadband competition.

FCC broadband adviser Blair Levin talks about the looming spectrum crisis, the progress of the broadband plan his team will deliver in February and controversial scholar-in-residence Stuart Benjamin.

The CTIA and CEA propose replacing TV stations' high-power transmitters with a network of low-power "distributed transmitters" that would allow a market's stations to be grouped closer together and free up spectrum for broadband use. Among the advantages, they say, would be minimal disruption to both stations and viewers.

Telecommunications Industry Association is in favor of moving spectrum from broadcasters to broadband use, claiming such a move would have "significant public benefits" that trump television.

Noncommercial broadcasters tell the FCC that they are opposed to any scheme that would "diminish access to broadcast services in the name of improving access to broadband services."