WCS OPERATORS, BROADCASTERS URGE FCC TO DENY SDARS REQUESTS
BellSouth and NAB are among those urging FCC to deny requests of satellite radio companies XM Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio for special temporary authority (STA) to operate high-powered terrestrial repeaters. NAB Pres. Edward Fritts said that “the time for subterfuge by XM Radio and Sirius Radio is over… These companies must come clean with regulators and the American people on their true intentions for making satellite radio a viable business.” In filing at FCC, NAB said intent of satellite digital audio radio service (SDARS) applications was “undisputed -- terrestrial repeaters should be used only to reach areas where a satellite signal cannot reach.” Citing concerns of interference to Wireless Communications Service (WCS) operations, BellSouth (BS) told FCC that XM and Sirius hadn’t met burden of proof to demonstrate that there were “extraordinary circumstances” warranting grants of STAs and that grants would serve public interest.
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NAB said instant applications “by their sheer numbers and power levels appear to be designed to blanket metropolitan areas, not fill in isolated gaps in coverage.” XM and Sirius requests for temporary authority “do not demonstrate any need for such a large number of high-power terrestrial repeaters,” NAB told FCC. Because applicants “have been less than forthcoming” about use of repeaters in past, NAB said, Commission should “at a minimum require the satellite radio licensees to justify their sudden and marked increased need for so many high-powered terrestrial repeaters.”
Extensive repeater networks “represent a disturbing and potential threat” to radio stations, NAB said, and “have the potential to operate totally divorced of the satellite transmission systems that they supposedly complement.” To permit such system would result in “totally circumventing” FCC intentions in establishing DBS radio service, NAB said: “The Commission here should ensure that SDARS terrestrial repeaters… are used only to transmit the complete signal from the primary station [and] repeaters must be explicitly prohibited from transmitting any locally originated programming… This is the only way the Commission can prevent this technology from being what it was never intended to be -- a terrestrial digital radio network.”
Meanwhile, BS said XM and Sirius had failed to make showing to FCC that either extraordinary circumstances or public interest warranted grant of STAs. BS said that especially was case “when one considers the known and proven adverse impact on the WCS licensees that will be caused if the STA applicants are permitted to operate their SDARS terrestrial repeater network at greater than 2 kw power.”
WCS licensees have been raising concerns at FCC about potential interference to their operations if SDARS licensees are allowed to operate terrestrial repeaters at more than 2 kw. XM and Sirius have countered concerns in volley of ex parte filings at FCC, contending SDARS operators shouldn’t have to bear costs of engineering oversights of WCS licensees (CD July 30 p4). XM’s STA request covered repeaters operating at powers of 2 kw up to 40 kw in 61 markets. XM and Sirius have told FCC that operators such as AT&T have designed front end of their receivers to tune to entire 2320-2345 MHz band, engineering factor they overlooked. WCS licensees, including AT&T Wireless, BellSouth, Verizon Wireless and WorldCom, asked FCC last month to not authorize STA requests until interference issues were addressed.
In most recent filing, BellSouth said STA applicants provided full site location information of terrestrial repeaters at power levels above 2 kw. BellSouth has 22 of 128 WCS licenses auctioned by FCC in 1997, winning 45% of bids. BellSouth said its assessment of STA applications indicated terrestrial repeaters at those high levels “will create large exclusion zones in which the interference from the SDARS terrestrial repeaters will overpower the customer-premise receivers of WCS customers, effectively precluding WCS services in these areas.” BS said it wasn’t ready to “be forced into a practical situation of operating its own WCS licenses in band as secondary to the SDARS operations because of high-powered repeaters in an adjacent band.” BellSouth told FCC it had been engaged in effort to commercialize its WCS spectrum and conducted “substantial trial” of WCS technology last year. It warned Commission that granting STA requests effectively could bar BellSouth and other WCS licensees from deploying WCS spectrum to significant portion of customer markets. BS said it calculated that where SDARS terrestrial repeaters operated at 2 kW, with line-of-sight path, BS would experience exclusion zones around each repeater of about 5 miles. If those repeaters operated at 40 kW, exclusion zone would be closer to 23 miles, BS said. Such exclusion zones could bar BS from entering certain markets, such as Nashville and Miami, carrier said.
Officials of AT&T Wireless, BellSouth, Metricom, Verizon Wireless, Wireless Communications Assn. and Metricom met with FCC staffers last week to discuss policy options for resolving their concerns. According to ex parte filing, companies raised possibility of imposing 2 kw power limitation on SDARS repeaters. They also discussed potential for transition period, during which repeaters at higher power levels might be allowed on temporary and non-interfering basis with WCS deployments.