WASHINGTON-Lawmakers last week called for making firm the mandate that TV broadcasters give back spectrum in the 700 MHz band by the end of 2006.
Reps. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) told the House telecommunications subcommittee that while it may be hard for TV broadcasters to complete the transition to digital TV by the end of 2006, the spectrum needs of public safety must come first. “There is no doubt about it, this is an over-riding priority,” said Weldon.
Weldon said that military technology could be used by public-safety, but spectrum was not available to make use of those technologies.
Harman and Weldon met some resistance from members of the House Commerce telecommunications subcommittee who worried there would be an outcry if broadcasters are forced to turn off their digital signals before a sufficient number of consumers have the capability of receiving digital signals.
“The problem is not the broadcasters. The problem is the consumers. If we get rid of analog, it will be our neck,” said Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the House Commerce Committee. “I would be comfortable setting a fixed date if we can settle some other issues.”
The digital TV transition is full of chicken-and-egg scenarios. One of the latest is what to do about copyrighted material. Hollywood is concerned that if protections are not in place, someone could make a near-perfect copy from over-the-air-free TV and then pass it around the Internet. Since this issue has not been resolved, Hollywood has been slow to make TV programs available in a digital format. Since content is not available, consumers have not been willing to pay the high price tag for new TVs and/or analog-digital converter boxes. And, finally since there are not that many eyeballs watching DTV, broadcasters are unwilling to unplug their analog signals.
Broadcasters must give back their spectrum by Dec. 31, 2006, or when 85 percent of the homes in their viewing area are capable of receiving a digital signal.
Meeting the 85-percent threshold is likely to take some time. Today only 1 percent of homes in America are capable of receiving a digital signal, said Edmond Thomas, chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology.
The Harman/Weldon legislation would make the December 2006 date firm and take away the percentage milestone.
In addition to making 24 megahertz of spectrum available for public-safety communications, the TV broadcast spectrum give-back would make additional spectrum available for commercial uses. Six megahertz has been auctioned off as a guard band for public safety and must be used by band managers that lease it to private-wireless interests. Nextel Communications Inc. has proposed giving back the guard-band spectrum in the 700 MHz band that it won at auction as part of its plan to solve the public-safety interference problem in the 800 MHz band. Thirty megahertz will be auctioned off at a later date for commercial uses.
Weldon brushed aside technologies that claim to make public-safety radios interoperable-a major goal of the 700 MHz band spectrum. The technologies are too expensive. It would be “next to impossible” to ask a volunteer fire department to raise the $200,000 for the estimated price tag of the technology, he said.
A first responder, James Tamlyn of Mackinaw, Mich., said it will take a cooperative effort of policy-makers at all levels of government for public-safety to get the spectrum and money it needs.
“We must all work together to make spectrum and resources available for our nation’s first responders,” said Tamlyn, chairman of the Charleovoix-Cheboygan-Emmet Central Dispatch Authority.
Tauzin also took the opportunity to put a plug in for ultra-wideband technologies and to urge the Federal Communications Commission to relax the restrictions on UWB emissions. “The FCC is being overly cautious,” he said.
