FCC Test Results Next Battle Front, as White Spaces Fight Continues
Broadcasters claimed victory Wednesday after the FCC released reports on Office of Engineering and Technology tests of devices designed to operate without causing interference in TV white spaces. But the White Spaces Coalition wasn’t conceding defeat, saying engineers for the coalition need to work with the FCC to better understand the results and how the tests were conducted.
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The bad news for the coalition was that a device designed to operate in the white spaces, submitted by Microsoft, failed lab tests. A second device submitted by Philips did perform as expected and was able to detect interference to DTV signals reliably. The FCC did not apprize either side of the results as testing was in progress. The fight over use of the white spaces has pitted broadcasters against the high-tech community and such industry giants as Dell, Microsoft and Intel.
“The next phase of direct dialogue with FCC engineers hopefully will enable our technical teams to learn more about the Commission’s approach to testing protocol and methodology,” the White Spaces Coalition said in a statement. “We will work with the Federal Communications Commission to resolve any open questions quickly enabling the FCC to meet its October deadline and delivering on the common goal of driving innovation and expanding Internet access for all Americans.”
David Donovan, president of the Association for Maximum Service TV, told us Wednesday the results of the tests should make the FCC back away from a move to allow mobile devices to make use of the broadcast white spaces for unlicensed use such as wireless broadband. Instead, the FCC could more properly allow limited use by fixed devices in rural America, a much smaller market than the high tech companies envision.
“You have 50 million digital TV sets in the hands of consumers and 60 million more are expected to be sold between now and 2009,” Donovan said. “All of those would be subject to interference… The sensing technology does not work and if deployed in a broadcast band will result in massive amounts of interference to broadcast TV and also to cable ready TV sets.”
Donovan said FCC results showed devices submitted by advocates of unlicensed use failed most tests, a result he didn’t find surprising since the tests confirm data already submitted to the FCC by MSTV. “This report indicates that sensing fails,” he said. “The FCC confirms every study that we have submitted into the record… I don’t know how you spin this data.”
“Yesterday’s FCC testing results confirm what NAB, MSTV and others have long contended: that the portable, unlicensed devices proposed by high-tech firms can’t make the transition from theory to actuality without compromising interference-free television reception,” NAB said.
Shure, which asked for testing of potential interference to wireless microphones, said separate tests conducted by OET show that neither device is safe and would interfere with microphones. “The idea that big manufacturers can dump millions of new gadgets onto the same frequencies as wireless microphones without causing devastating interference to sports, entertainment, religious, news gathering, and other live productions is simply not supported by engineering reality,” said Mark Brunner, Shure senior director of public and industry relations.