Truck Stop Waivers for Wireless TV Service Denied by FCC
A chain of truck stops can’t start a wireless TV service that would require waivers to operate in a band used by broadcasters, cable programmers and the federal government, said the FCC. The “entirely new use” of the cable-TV relay service band to run a multichannel video distribution system at Flying J truck stops throughout the U.S. shouldn’t be pursued by a waiver, said an order approved by commissioners and released Tuesday. It said such a change is “the province of a rulemaking.” Since 2006, when Clarity Media Systems first requested the waivers that were a year later denied by the Media Bureau, that company’s owner, Flying J, has filed for bankruptcy and in 2010 combined with another truck stop chain.
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A waiver isn’t “the appropriate vehicle to effect a substantial change in the permissible use and eligibility rules for a block of spectrum, which requires a more thorough study of the spectrum, including consideration of other possible uses of the spectrum,” said the order (http://bit.ly/14LGOa8). The 2025-2110 MHz band where Clarity sought to operate on a secondary, non-interfering basis is “used extensively for electronic news gathering” by broadcasters and cable programmers, and the band is used by the Department of Defense and NASA, said the order. A spokeswoman for Pilot Flying J, as the combined company is called, declined to comment.
Clarity sought to start the service at 258 “travel plazas.” On his last business day as chairman, Kevin Martin circulated an order undoing the bureau’s denial of the wireless-TV service plan (CD Jan 27/09 p4). The plan was opposed by NAB, MetroPCS, now part of T-Mobile, and other carriers, some of which voiced interference concerns. A T-Mobile spokesman had no comment.
Denying now Clarity’s application for review of the bureau waiver denial seems to represent a housekeeping matter of sorts for the FCC, to resolve the issue, said a wireless-industry lawyer. The draft order from Martin approving the service was unresolved for some time, noted the attorney. Some carriers opposed the service because of interference concerns, said the lawyer. Clarity told the agency it “refined” the TV system to reduce transmitter output power at larger sites to 5 mW per channel from the 1 W originally requested, the order noted.
The Martin-era order allowing the service was pulled after he left the agency and eventually replaced with another order that went through some incarnations, said a commission official. The just-approved order denying the service didn’t prove controversial within the agency, said the official. There had been some eighth-floor and industry controversy in 2009 when the item allowing the service and overturning the bureau’s denial of the waiver circulated (CD May 21/09 p2). “NAB agrees with the FCC’s decision,” said an association spokesman by email. “The Commission’s ruling helps ensure local TV stations’ news-gathering operations remain free of interference and protects viewers’ access to breaking news and emergency information."
The cable relay and broadcast auxiliary service using the band where Clarity wanted to operate is “unlike many other types of spectrum allocations where use, both in terms of intensity and geography, can be fairly well anticipated,” said the order. Use of the band “can fluctuate dramatically depending on the demands associated with breaking news events,” it said. “That a waiver applicant argues that its business model will only work if it can get a large block of spectrum for free does not mean that the public interest warrants a waiver.” Other travel plaza operators are able to provide video services “without the unprecedented waivers,” which “strongly suggests that alternative delivery means are practical,” said the commission.
The technical changes the company suggested aren’t enough to justify the waivers, said the FCC. “It has still not justified the wholesale waiver” of rules for that band, said the agency. It also denied an application for review by the KlaasKids Foundation, which said the bureau didn’t consider the benefits of Clarity’s plan to carry AMBER Alerts. Using a channel for such carriage is “laudable” but not “sufficient to justify the extraordinary waivers Clarity has requested,” said the FCC. It said that’s “particularly in light of the numerous other avenues for Amber Alerts to be disseminated, including road signs, radio broadcasts, and news broadcasts made by the primary users of the spectrum at issue and available to truck and other drivers ubiquitously and without charge.”