"There are untold billions of dollars riding on the incentive auction, and an increasingly disgruntled LPTV community is threatening to do whatever it can to gum up the works.

With all this potential cash on the table, you'd think the powers that be both in Congress and at the FCC would make an attempt to do the right thing for LPTV licensees. These are small businesses serving their communities and they do not deserve to be squashed in the service of making it easier to stream cat videos on a smartphone.

We do not buy the argument that we need to use this auction to pay off the national debt. It will be a largely symbolic gesture. For example, we just tuned in the debt clock. It doesn't sit still, but it was around $18.164 trillion.

If the auction raises $100 billion free and clear after paying expenses and

reimbursing participating broadcasters, the national debt (assuming it froze at

the above amount) would be knocked down to $18.064 trillion. Big whoop.

So why not settle out of court - allocate some of the cash to LPTV. Either allow LPTV to participate in the auction, or at the very least hold LPTV licensees harmless with proper remuneration for moving or going out of business costs?

If we were the powers that be, we'd be thinking along those lines for both practical and moral purposes."

SO IF ANY OF YOU SEE DAVE AT NAB

BUY HIM A DRINK OR TWO!