WASHINGTON-Now that TV broadcasters have accepted a hard date for the transition to digital TV, lobbying for parts of the spectrum probably will ratchet up.
Indeed, 20 megahertz of the spectrum being made available from the transition to digital TV should be set aside for unlicensed uses, the New America Foundation urged Congress last week. “We strongly recommend that roughly one-third of the TV band spectrum reallocated for wireless services be reserved for shared, unlicensed wireless broadband, which is particularly important for extending affordable Internet access to rural and other under-served areas,” said Michael Calabrese, vice president & director of the Wireless Future Program of the New America Foundation.
Congress has to decide 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.
The Senate Commerce Committee spent all day July 12 examining the DTV transition. “Broadcasters accept that Congress will set a hard date in 2009,” said Edward Fritts, president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Broadcasters. “Our board met three weeks ago and indicated that we would accept a hard date as set by this committee, understanding that the 85 percent would go away.”
Fritts’ mention of a hard date in 2009 is significant because the proposals on the table call for the DTV transition to be complete by Dec. 31, 2008.
However, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, indicated that he would favor easing the hard date to sometime after Jan. 1, 2009. “I think Congress should be in session to handle any glitches that may arise,” Stevens said. Later Stevens said a Senate bill designating a date would be delayed while he asks the Government Accountability Office to do some additional research.
In 1997, Congress said that in 2007, broadcasters would have to return the extra 6 megahertz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band given to TV broadcasters to facilitate the DTV transition. But TV broadcasters could keep the spectrum if more than 15 percent of the homes in their viewing areas could not receive digital signals. Removing the caveat has become known as establishing a hard date and has been widely encouraged by the wireless industry, which wants access to some of the spectrum.
The House and Senate Commerce committees have been tasked with trying to find more than $4 billion to help reduce the federal budget deficit. It is believed this money could be raised by the sale of licenses for spectrum in the 700 MHz band, but no sale will be effective until a firm date is set for broadcasters to return the 700 MHz spectrum to the government.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), former chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and sponsor of a bill that would set a Jan. 1, 2009 hard date, invoked recent mass-transit bombings in London to push for spectrum for public safety. “The bombings in London reinforce the need for this. CNN reported that Scotland Yard had to borrow spectrum from Vodafone, meaning that customers couldn’t reach loved ones,” said McCain.
