Three Spectrum Items Set for Tuesday Vote Draw Little Controversy at FCC
Three spectrum items set for a vote Tuesday aren’t drawing much controversy within the FCC and seem likely to be unanimously approved in a final form that’s close to the first version of their drafts, agency officials we spoke with said. They said some commissioners are suggesting changes to a rulemaking notice on TV spectrum. Among the three items, that’s been drawing the most attention within the FCC and from the broadcast industry, which appears to have some concerns about it, agency officials said. Fewer changes are likely to be made to another rulemaking notice, on experimental licensing, and to a notice of inquiry on opportunistic use of spectrum, commission officials said. Altogether, the three items still aren’t likely to differ substantially from the first drafts from career commission staffers (CD Nov 16 p4), agency officials said.
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Changes to the TV rulemaking may include adding questions on alternatives to TV stations sharing channels as a way to more efficiently use airwaves so that spectrum can be freed for wireless broadband, FCC officials said. They said there had been no question in the first version of the draft that asked about alternatives to channel sharing. The rulemaking notice poses many other queries, including on how to increase the quality of reception in the VHF band, which has been worse than in the UHF band for many stations since all full-power broadcasters switched to digital last year, FCC officials said.
The TV item doesn’t specify what the TV broadcast industry would look like after the incentive auction that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski seeks authority to hold to clear some stations from the band, agency officials said. That may be because the commission doesn’t yet have authority from Congress to hold such auctions, agency and industry officials speculated. The TV item also doesn’t ask specifically about repacking TV stations, an agency official said. The Association for Maximum Service Television “will analyze it in detail and read it with great interest,” when the TV rulemaking is released, President David Donovan said.
The spectrum innovation inquiry asks what can be done to encourage the development of dynamic spectrum technology, which could use licensed and unlicensed spectrum, an FCC official said. It asks about making more use of spectrum testbeds and whether the white spaces between TV channels are an effective alternative to such testbeds, the official said. The inquiry includes questions about ways to encourage the use of secondary markets for spectrum, the official said. An FCC spokeswoman declined to comment on the items.
"They're not controversial” at the commission, said Legal Director Harold Feld of Public Knowledge, about the items set for a vote at Tuesday’s FCC meeting. “My impression is the one that’s touted as an incentive auction item doesn’t do very much. It would have been interesting if they would have established a record about an auction in advance of legislation. … From what we've heard, they are just doing some very basic tweaks to try to facilitate the ability of broadcasters to engage in agreements under existing rules, and I suppose that’s the most you can do without” legislative authority.