Almost all existing licensees did not receive free licenses. They paid a full market price for their licenses, and moreover, the licensees provide a vital free service to the public every day. For the digital transition, Congress wisely made the choice not to charge broadcasters billions of dollars for a loan of digital spectrum later to be exchanged for their analog spectrum, while asking an established industry to expensively uproot itself in order to provide new and better service to the public. Hundt's call to place free airtime at the top of an open-ended regulatory wish list is not the deal that Congress made. There is one point, however, about which Reed and I can agree.
Debates are the best way to clarify the differences between candidates on the issues.
But we disagree on the best way to encourage broadcasters to provide such coverage. This should be an editorial judgment by newsman, not a partisan directive from political appointees. Historically, robust political debate has been promoted more by the absence of FCC political broadcasting rules than by their enforcement. This, however, is a lesson to be learned from experience, nor from political partisanship.