Today is an exciting day at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), with the official start of the broadcast spectrum incentive auction. And much is at stake – a successful auction means that spectrum will be repurposed, a huge amount of money will change hands and technology and spectrum policy will be shaped for the future. All of these things hang on the outcome of a brave and untested idea dreamed up by economists and enabled by engineers.

The FCC staff deserves considerable credit for getting us to this point. As the idea of an incentive auction was explored in detail, challenges arose and the Commission’s staff grappled with them in earnest. To be sure, not every solution can be elegant and there remains disagreement about whether each one will prove successful, but the FCC staff is now able to push the “start” button and the initial spectrum clearing target will be revealed.

A good deal of credit also goes to former FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who first presented the incentive auction concept as part of the National Broadband Plan, to Chairman Tom Wheeler, who has led the charge to dot the auction’s i’s and cross its t’s, and to all of the commissioners who have engaged in a difficult process to bring to light the key policy decisions at stake along the way.

Even on this momentous occasion, we should be mindful that our work is only partially complete. The dedicated FCC staff is now turning its attention to one of the most complex processes of relocating incumbent spectrum users in its history. We must also recognize that the auction will harm low power television and translator services. This will affect many viewers across the country who rely on those services for critical public safety news and information. Broadcasters will continue to work with the Commission to ensure that damage to these and other critical broadcasting operations is minimized.

What happens next is anyone’s guess, but the FCC staff can certainly be proud that they worked incredibly hard under tight timelines to bring us to the doorstep of this exciting auction.