spectrum reallocation

The FCC and the CTIA-The Wireless Association believe that having two TV stations share the same 6 MHz of spectrum currently used by just one station will provide broadcasters what they need to do business and open up much desired spectrum for the wireless industry. Right now they are finding out of it can successfully be done.

The trade group tells the FCC that “CTIA’s gold-rush mentality to stockpile spectrum has left its proposal and corresponding analysis lacking any perspective on the value of the current use of the 2095-2110 MHz band to the American public.”

NAB says that the wireless industry group’s request that the FCC reallocate some BAS spectrum for mobile broadband will damage TV stations’ ability “to provide breaking coverage of devastating storms, tornadoes, hurricanes and wildfires.”

This is getting ridiculous. The FCC was supposed to make public its technical models for its proposed spectrum reallocation that would make its proposed auction plan possible. Broadcasters are still waiting. It keeps promising, but it never delivers and that’s straining the commission’s credibility. Until the modeling is made public, broadcasters should remain skeptical — and wary — of the anything having to do with incentive auctions. And Congress, too.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s current debt ceiling plan would direct the FCC to auction off highly valuable television spectrum to wireless carriers desperate for more airwaves.

Congressional leaders seem to be throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the debate over the budget and raising the debt ceiling. Now it looks like the incentive wireless spectrum auctions proposed by the FCC may end up as part of a package that is being hashed out by Republicans and Democrats in Washington

A new analysis of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan by the National Association of Broadcasters finds that a minimum of 210 full-power TV stations could go dark and that 40% of all TV stations in U.S. could either leave the business or be assigned a new channel. It also says stations in the top 10 markets could be severely impacted, with “Northern Border” stations in Detroit, Buffalo, Cleveland and Seattle threatened. NAB calls on the FCC to immediately make public its analyses of the plan’s potential negative impact on viewers of free and local television.

The FCC is trying to entice the broadcasters to surrender some of their spectrum voluntarily, by promising to give them a portion of the subsequent auction proceeds. But to do that, the FCC first needs an OK from Congress. NAB President (and former U.S. senator) Gordon Smith has helped broadcasters successfully tamp down any thought of requiring TV stations to give back their spectrum licenses. Broadcasters are shoring up support for their position and making doubly sure any spectrum legislation contains language that will protect their interests.

In another example of how seriously the FCC is considering the reallocation of portions of the TV spectrum for wireless broadband use, the commission today issued a Public Notice freezing any new petitions for changes in the channels of television stations. Since the DTV transition, almost 100 stations have changed channels — mostly moving from VHF to UHF channels, as TV operators have in determined that VHF channels are subject to more interference and viewer complaints about over-the-air reception.

This battle that has it all: power, money, entrenched interests, and a fair share of snark. It’s the spectrum war, where two of the major sets of players in the media business — the broadcasters and the telecoms — are battling over how to divide a path to consumers that the TV guys have controlled for decades.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told a Telecommunications Industry Association audience in Dallas Thursday that there should be no more debate about whether there is a spectrum crunch that requires freeing up more spectrum.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D- W. Va.) says he wants to get an incentive auction/emergency communications network bill passed by June, and certainly before the 10th anniversary of 9/11. But he also says broadcasters will not be forced off spectrum in the process.

The NAB president says he welcomes the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s work on creating the next generation of TV technical standards, but emphasizes that for the new over-the-air TV innovations to work, stations must not be forced to give back spectrum.

The Consumer Electronics Association, which has been cranking up its campaign for broadcast spectrum via its blog and new studies, has created a “spectrum crunch clock” that claims to tally the “lost opportunity costs to the U.S. economy and consumers with every minute we delay responsibly managing our nation’s spectrum resources.” NAB calls it more of a crock than a clock.

In its comments on the FCC’s proposals on channel-sharing, spectrum “repacking” and improving VHF transmissions, CBS has taken a slightly less adversarial tone than the NAB, group owners representing hundreds of TV stations and state broadcast associations. And since it says it is not going to be selling its spectrum, or planning to share it with other stations, CBS put an emphasis on the FCC making sure those left behind are still in control of their own destiny.

A pair of broadcast executives made a pitch in Washington Thursday night for the value of local broadcasting in the face of government calls for them to give up spectrum for wireless broadband. “The work that local stations do in this country is extraordinary and should not be taken for granted,” said David Barrett, president of Hearst TV, which owns 29 TV stations. In addition, Raycom News VP Susana Schuler said broadcasters are best positioned to feed growing news appetite.

Sens. Mark R. Warner and Roger Wicker Wednesday introduced a bill that would require federal agencies to provide more information on spectrum relocation projects at the outset, and would create a technical review panel to help develop relocation plans and provide for spectrum sharing during a transition.

A coalition of television station operators, including operators of religious and low-power stations, is preparing to stand firm to protect spectrum in the face of the FCC’s desire to repurpose parts of the television band for wireless broadband delivery.

FCC National Broadband Plan architect Blair Levin is advising broadcasters to come up with a plan of their own for advancing their spectrum future — he suggests a move to the more spectrally efficient MPEG-4 transmission standard — rather than digging in their heels on the FCC’s spectrum reclamtion-repacking proposal.

The NAB president says broadcasters are willing to volunteer spectrum, but won’t be put in a degraded position on the TV band.

U.S. TV broadcastersface a competitive situation similar to a prizefighter who’s forced to wear a straitjacket when facing the World Heavy Weight Champion.That’s the view of Mark Aitken, director of advanced technology at Sinclair Broadcast Group. On the one hand, they are required by law to transmit DTV using the ATSC A/53 standard, and on the other, they are being pushed into a knockdown, drag-out battle with wireless providers that covet their spectrum and are being cheered on by the FCC.

Back in early December the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) which kicked off the long-anticipated push to free up prime blocks of TV spectrum for broadband use. The NPRM has now been published in the Federal Register, which sets the comment and reply comment deadlines. Comments are due by March 18 and reply comments by April 18.

The group’s president, Gordon Smith, cites a press account of the cable operator’s acquisition of spectrum that it has no plans to sell or use and urges Congress to get a “full and accurate accounting of spectrum users and spectrum warehousers.”

While the FCC under Julius Genachowski is actively moving to take spectrum away from TV stations, which the chairman calls an “obstacle” to America’s broadband future, its conditions placed on the Comcast-NBCU deal indicate just the opposite. The commission has decreed that NBC and Telemundo stations must produce an additional 1,000 hours of “original, local news and information programming” as groups. To me that shows that the FCC is implicitly recognizing the continued importance of broadcasting in the media mix.

Many broadcasters are already worried about declining viewers, and now they say the government wants to take away something more: the airwaves themselves.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will tell Consumer Electronics Show attendees that broadcasters who are not making “effective use of the capabilities of their spectrum” should have it put to a “higher use for other purposes.”

While the FCC hopes to take back some of TV’s valuable space by tempting broadcasters to voluntarily put it up for auction, it’s also threatening to get some by repacking the band. But what’s most galling is that it still hasn’t released its repacking models that spell out exactly what it wants to do. They’ve been “forthcoming” since March.

By a 5-0 vote, the commission sets in motion a three-part rulemaking looking to auction some TV spectrum, set up the sharing of a single 6 MHz channel by two or more stations and increase power for VHF stations, thereby freeing up UHF space for wireless broadband.

Rather than taking spectrum away from broadcasters, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski ought to consider giving stations more flexibility is using their spectrum. Freeing broadcasters from the constraints of the ATSC digital standard can be done now. The question is not whether spectrum should be used for broadband or broadcasting but whether it should be used for broadband and broadcasting. 

The FCC today will vote on proposals to free up more airwaves for commercial wireless use in a meeting that could be overshadowed if plans to act on contentious Internet traffic rules are circulated. For more on the impact on television stations, click here.

Next Tuesday, Nov. 30, the FCC will launch its rulemaking aimed at freeing up broadcast spectrum through repacking of the band and channel sharing. It will look for ways to improve the VHF band, suggesting that the FCC intends to drive more stations into the band as part of the repacking scheme.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski tells the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners that the current broadcast spectrum allocations “still reflect the previous era. This presents a real obstacle as we try to ensure a spectrum infrastructure for the new world of mobile broadband.” To get things moving, he said, the FCC will consider at its Nov. 30 meeting launching a proceeding that would lift technical restrictions so broadcast spectrum can be used for broadband, and that would allow channel sharing among broadcasters.