MSTV Says 700 MHz Interference Protections Must Be Strengthened
MSTV asked the FCC to make changes to its Oct. 12 order clearing Qualcomm to offer high quality video on licenses it owns in the 700-MHz band through subsidiary MediaFLO. The filing continues a longstanding conflict between Qualcomm and broadcasters over use of channel 55. Qualcomm declined to respond Thurs., but a company source said it would answer MSTV next week in a filing.
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Qualcomm bought licenses to offer service on TV channel 55 in 5 of 6 regions in the U.S. in a 2003 auction, buying the 6th license a year later. Qualcomm has been working with Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel to make MediaFLO part of the 3G service they offer subscribers.
In its order, the FCC found what it saw as a compromise (CD Oct 13 p3). Qualcomm has asked the FCC for a ruling that interference with less than 2% of those served by a TV station should be considered de minimis and therefore acceptable. But the FCC instead established a sliding scale requiring interference to be below 0.5% at the beginning of the DTV transition in Feb. 2009, 1% the 2nd year and 1.5% a year later.
MSTV said the order still doesn’t go far enough to protect broadcasters. The FCC should revise its order to “make clear that Qualcomm cannot take advantage of that waiver in markets where the proposed interference would cause unique, market-specific harms not contemplated by the Qualcomm order,” MSTV said. The group also said the order should clarify that “the aggregate of all of its transmissions in a market” must comply with interference limits.
MSTV argued that prior to release of the order Qualcomm had refused to release information on the location of its transmitters. As a result, MSTV encouraged the Commission to view the interference limits as a starting point. “Because the Commission and the public did not previously have the benefit of transmitter data, the interference thresholds of the Qualcomm Order should be viewed only as presumptions that the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau can use in evaluating an application by Qualcomm,” MSTV said: “If a party raises an objection showing that the real world effect of Qualcomm’s proposed operation would be more than de minimis, a lower (possibly zero percent) interference threshold should instead be used.”
MSTV also said the FCC should recognize that some markets pose special circumstances. It cited the hypothetical case of a market where the only Spanish language station operates on an adjacent frequency. “Although Qualcomm’s interference analysis may show that it would interfere with only 0.5 percent of the population within that station’s service area, a much higher percentage of the station’s actual viewership would lose service,” MSTV said. MSTV said the order is ambiguous on whether the Wireless Bureau is required to consider market-specific concerns in evaluating interference from MediaFLO broadcasts.
MSTV Pres. David Donovan told us that in the markets where Qualcomm has sought waivers it has already identified Hispanic stations that would face what they would view as interference to significant numbers of viewers. “It’s important to the stations involved,” Donovan said: “Let’s assume I only have 0.5% interference but some of this interference occurs to a Hispanic station and a tower happens to be placed in a Hispanic area of town. Even though you're only 0.5% of the total population you may have significant harm… The critical issue here is can those unique public interest questions be raised.” Donovan said the Commission “made an effort globally” to address interference issues, but needs to do more to protect stations with “unique, individual” concerns.