The man who once famously called television "just another appliance" and "a toaster with pictures" has signed up with a major player in the FCC's 700 MHz wireless auction proceeding.

Mark Fowler served as Ronald Reagan's Federal Communications Commission Chair from 1981 through 1987. During his tenure Fowler oversaw the massive deregulation of the broadcasting industry and the rise of cable television.

Now he has joined Frontline Wireless, a prominent participant in the FCC's proceeding on rules for the agency's upcoming auction of the 700 MHz band, sold off as TV stations vacate the region and take up digital signals.

But even Fowler concedes that the FCC will need to attach some "smart regulations" to the sale.

Regulation has "a legitimate role," Fowler asserted in a Frontline press release issued yesterday, "to move the U.S.—including first responders—to a wireless broadband society."

Frontline proposes that about 12 MHz of the 700 band, the so called "E-Block," be auctioned off on the proviso that the winner use the space to build an open access national public safety broadband communications network.

"Open access" means that third party firms could buy use of the spectrum at wholesale rates.

The proposal has won qualified praise from media reformers, an irony given Fowler's assertion as FCC Chair that "it's time to move away from thinking of broadcasters as trustees and time to treat them the way that everyone else in this society does, that is, as a business."

"Television is just another appliance," Fowler continued. "It's a toaster with pictures."

In his new role Fowler sees his private sector philosophy as consistent with public sector needs.

The Frontline proposal "solves the public safety problem with a private sector solution," Fowler said today. "Using best of breed private sector capital sources, strategic partners, technologies, and executive talent, Frontline will build a state of the art national wireless network for public safety."

That is, of course, if Frontline wins the E-Block bid. While media reformers like Harold Feld of the Media Access Project endorse the Frontline idea, they fear that big incumbent wireless firms will buy the spectrum, and then "set ridiculous lease terms for potential commercial wholesale customers."

That's why groups like the Public Interest Spectrum Coalition (PISC) have called for caps on incumbent participation in the auction.

"The best method for ensuring that the spectrum is not simply bought by incumbent broadband providers is by limiting their eligibility to bid," the group argues, "either through a flat prohibition or spectrum caps."

McCain weighs in on 700 MHz issue

The E-Block concept also received an endorsement from Arizona U.S. Senator and Republican presidential contender John McCain, who filed comments with the FCC on Tuesday.

McCain's filing did not mention Frontline, but called the idea "an excellent use of the public's spectrum and an outstanding example of a public-private partnership."

He did add that if the proposal goes through, the FCC should make certain "that the auction participants agree, prior to the auction, to public safety's specifications for the network."

PISC and other groups have called for more guidelines on the 700 MHz auction, which will sell off spectrum ideal for broadband services, and, if equitably sold, could give smaller companies a chance to compete with big incumbents like Verizon and AT&T.

They want anonymous bidding rules to prevent big players from colluding with each other during the auction; they also want "use it or lose it" rules to prevent monied bidders from purchasing the spectrum, then just sitting on it to squelch competition.

Democratic presidential contender John Edwards has endorsed most of these ideas. But McCain appeared to distance himself from them in his FCC filing.

"Market-driven auction policies, and not encumbering rules," his statement concluded, "would ensure that spectrum does not lay fallow due to extensive litigation or for other reasons, and that consumers will not be denied the benefits from wireless technology innovations."