FCC Eyes Large Markets for Reuse of TV Spectrum
The FCC made it clear recently it’s considering the reuse of TV spectrum mainly for the largest markets, because there seem to be plenty of unoccupied radio waves in smaller cities, said broadcast executives and lawyers we surveyed. Executives at companies that run 121 stations total -- 8.7 percent of U.S. commercial broadcasters -- remain skeptical of some parts of spectrum reallocation expected to be in the National Broadband Plan. They say the commission has at times seemed fixated on a spectrum crisis when it’s unclear there is one.
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Any approaching shortage probably would come in larger markets with many TV stations and high consumer usage of broadband-enabled mobile devices, said some of those we asked. They said recent comments by Chairman Julius Genachowski (CD Feb 25 p1) and broadband staffers (CD March 1 p2) indicate an acknowledgment of that. Vice President Rebecca Duke of LIN TV pointed to Genachowski’s comment that the mobile-futures auction that broadcasters would be asked to take part in would involve “spectrum-starved markets.” The statement and some by others show “perhaps they are just looking at the larger markets,” Duke said. “It’s hard to believe there’s a spectrum crisis in Terre Haute, Indiana, where we have a station. There’s a lot of talk about a spectrum crisis but not a lot about where it’s occurring.”
Genachowski’s disclosure that the plan will call for seeking 500 MHz of spectrum from TV and others doesn’t provide enough detail for Duke and other broadcast executives, they said. “Not a lot of clarity is the biggest understatement of the year,” she said. “If this does impact our stations -- if there is a repacking or a collocating -- we would want to have sort of a say in how those rules are made. … We want to be engaged in the process.” The FCC hasn’t said what 500 MHz could be used for, said Mark Aitken, Sinclair’s advanced technology director. “There are lofty goals here. But who says this is wireless, and why 500 MHz, why not 400 MHz? Try to size the equation.”
“The Obama administration just wants to make as much money as they can to sell off spectrum,” said Technology Vice President James Ocon of Gray Television. “I would hate to think this would be a preordained decision.” It seems clear the FCC will set its sights on UHF and not VHF spectrum, where some broadcasters encountered problems after going all- digital, he said. “The CTIA doesn’t want to use VHF, and the broadcasters, the more progressive-thinking ones, have already realized that UHF is the way to go,” Ocon said. “Neither side wants it. It’s like a game of hot potato. It could work, but … there needs to be a little more progress on the technical front when we're talking about things like antennas.”
Any FCC auction will concentrate on larger markets and “have minimal impact on the smaller, rural markets,” said a commission official. In “most of the rural areas, there is not constraint on spectrum,” the person said. Larger markets are “where the need is, and that’s where the stations are.” Staffers haven’t mentioned VHF spectrum much in briefings on the broadband plan, which doesn’t distinguish between UHF and VHF for mobile broadband, commission officials said. A spokesman for the plan work declined to comment.
“It is clear that we need to make more effective use of broadcast spectrum,” CTIA President Steve Largent said in a written statement. “We need to find a way to put a significant amount of this spectrum to use for mobile broadband. The chairman’s approach is a significant step in that direction.” Vice President Julie Kearney of the CEA thinks seeking 500 MHz for other uses “is a good start.” NAB looks forward to seeing the broadband plan and “making the case that broadcasters are far and away the most efficient users of spectrum,” a spokesman said. “It’s clear the one motivation of pay mobile-DTV providers is to eliminate potential competition that would come from free over-the-air broadcasters” offering digital mobile service at no charge, he said.
There’s no “looming nationwide spectrum crisis’ requiring massive policy shifts,” just as some broadcasters have said all along, said lawyer John Hane of Pillsbury Winthrop, who represents TV stations. “If CTIA and the FCC had come out of the box saying ‘we are going to need more spectrum in 10 or 12 places in 2020,’ the debate would be very different today. The scope of the problem -- if one exists at all -- has been vastly overstated.” The commission doesn’t seem to be looking at smaller markets where there isn’t a user base that would require more spectrum and “there’s plenty of spectrum,” said lawyer David Oxenford of Davis Wright, which has TV clients. Compared with those markets, “maybe there’s not as much HD as in a New York or Los Angeles where you have 20 TV stations and all of them are actually carried on their own signals,” he said. “But in the larger markets you also have a greater potential for the viability of a niche-market station.”