Democratic senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand expressed concern to the Secretary of State that the FCC may have to reduce coverage areas of stations along the New York-Canadian border as a result of spectrum repacking, “thereby depriving American citizens of access to the signals of their favorite stations.” The senators want the State Department to assign responsibility for conducting the coordination with Canada and “get the process under way without delay.”
N.Y. Senators Want Help With Border Issues
New York’s senators want the U.S. State Department to play an active role in coordinating any interference issues that could affect U.S. television channels along the Canadian border as a result of the pending FCC spectrum auction and channel repack.
Democratic senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand expressed concern that the FCC may have to reduce coverage areas of stations along the border, “thereby depriving American citizens of access to the signals of their favorite stations.”
The senators want the State Department to assign responsibility for conducting the coordination with Canada and “get the process under way without delay.”
“As part of this harmonization process it will probably be necessary to rebalance the allotments reserved for television broadcasting in our respective countries,” according to the letter to Secretary of State John Kerry. “This is likely to be complicated and possibly contentious coordination. It’s important to get it started quickly.”
The senators said New York is especially vulnerable, since it has several key cities, including Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester, within the 250-mile zone that’s part of a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Canada to protect stations against interference.
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