What good would an FCC auction be without legal battles and delays? The National Association of Broadcasters, T-Mobile, CTIA and others are already preparing to fight against the FCC’s proposal to put the “white space” spectrum up for auction. Moreover, legal maneuvers might not even be needed as some commissioners are hinting they will oppose the plan when it comes up for a vote on Election Day, RCR reports. Indeed, FCC Chair Kevin Martin might have waited too long to spend his remaining political capital. Washington is well into lame-duck season and the white space issue could be rejected or delayed before a new administration comes to the Capitol. If either occurs, Martin would fail to deliver on his long-held plan to improve broadband penetration in the U.S., which has lagged considerably behind other countries.

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Google (NSDQ: GOOG), Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and others hope to make free high-speed wireless a reality, but broadcasters, T-Mobile and some wireless device manufacturers are doubling down on efforts to block the move. The spectrum is becoming available through the recently vacated TV channels, which T-Mobile is afraid will interfere with its 3G network that sits along side the spectrum. The FCC proposal would require the winning bidder of nationwide AWS-3 spectrum to set aside 25 percent of the network’s capacity for free broadband, which would be subject to filtering. The white spaces would also have to be open to third-party devices. Although the FCC’s own testing indicated interference with the AWS-1 band, which T-Mobile operates in, the agency’s engineering group concluded that its use could be approved as long as existing technology is used to limit interference. T-Mobile doesn’t dispute that technology could restrict interference with its network, but says the companies that are eyeing the spectrum haven’t publicly addressed plans on that front. The FCC is now considering delaying the vote after it received an emergency petition from NAB, Ars Technica reports.