WASHINGTON-The television industry fought back Tuesday against a proposal to use vacant TV channels for unlicensed uses following the transition to digital TV.
“The fact that you don’t see anyone operating on a particular channel does not necessarily mean it’s vacant. We can get into a debate about what’s vacant and what isn’t but it fundamentally depends on how you define vacant,” said David Donovon, president of Maximum Service TV, the association for local TV broadcasters.
For example, Donovon said that an analysis released by the New America Foundation and Free Press is inaccurate when it says Boston will have available spectrum in channels 2 to 51 once the DTV transition is completed. The New America Foundation/Free Press study released at a Capitol Hill event showed that nearly every TV market has some unassigned channels-therefore unused spectrum.
For example, in Juneau, Alaska-home to Sen. Ted Stevens, Republican chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee-74 percent of the DTV broadcast spectrum will be unused following the transition to DTV, according to the study. The study also found that 40 percent of the spectrum available in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas-the home to Rep. Joe Barton, Republican chairman of the House Commerce Committee-would be vacant.
NAF and the high-tech industry believe that smart devices using software-defined radio technology will be able to use this spectrum without causing interference to TV, but Donovon rejected the “trust us” argument. “The real world is vastly different from what you see in the lab or what you expect,” he said.
But Cisco Systems Inc., which hopes to have unlicensed devices operating in the 5 GHz band next year, thinks it knows how to protect against interference. The 5 GHz band is slated for unlicensed operations but military radar has to be protected. The technical parameters of some of those radars are classified so Cisco has been working with the government to come up with radios that will protect against interference while still operating in a commercially viable way.
“Cisco expects to have devices on the market next year that will solve problems with military radars, and if we can do that, we can certainly solve problems in the TV band,” said Mary Brown, Cisco senior telecommunications policy counsel.
Since Kevin Martin assumed his post as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, the TV White Space proceeding has been dormant-but no more. As part of the House Commerce Committee’s consideration of the DTV Transition Act of 2005, language was included directing the FCC to complete its consideration of the TV White Space rules within one year. The House has yet to consider its budget-reconciliation bill as members bicker over priorities.
Going after use of the white space is the consolation prize after it became obvious that all of the spectrum being made available with the DTV transition would be auctioned. The New America Foundation had urged as recently as July that one-third of the spectrum being made available should be allocated to unlicensed uses.
Congress has not specifically decided what to do with 48 megahertz of unallocated spectrum that will be available once broadcasters return the channels to government. Congress already dictated that 24 megahertz be given to public safety and 36 megahertz auctioned to commercial services. Both the House and Senate Commerce Committees have passed bills assuming the spectrum, minus the 24 megahertz for public safety, will be auctioned.
