FCC Expected to Approve BAS Extension
The FCC extended seven days, until Wednesday, the deadline for Sprint Nextel to complete the transition of the broadcast auxiliary service to frequencies above 2025 MHz. The commission said it was giving itself more time to complete an order on a February request by Sprint, the Association for Maximum Service TV, the NAB and the Society of Broadcast Engineers that the deadline be extended until Feb. 7, 2010. Commissioners are set to grant the extension, agency sources said Thursday. “I think they are working on a draft order and just need a little more time to get the edits done,” said an industry source.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
“This action is being taken without prejudice relative to the merits of the Supplemental Request,” the commission said in an order released Thursday after approval the day before. “We have previously acted to waive the deadline by which Sprint Nextel must complete relocation of the broadcast auxiliary service to frequencies above 2025 MHz to June 3, 2009, so as to provide the Commission with time to consider the issues raised by the Supplemental Request and the comments regarding the Supplemental Request. We again waive this deadline.” The 2 GHz band was supposed to be cleared by September 2007.
The extension request pits Sprint and broadcasters against MSS operators TerreStar and New ICO Satellite Services, now called New DBSD Satellite Services, which plan to offer voice, data and other services in the spectrum. Both sides held meetings at the FCC this week to make their respective cases, according to letters filed with the commission. The MSS operators continue to say they would accept a delay if the FCC also eliminates the top-30 markets rule, which prevents 2 GHz MSS systems from starting operations until BAS stations in the 30 largest markets and fixed BAS stations everywhere have been moved.
Sprint representatives met with Commissioner Robert McDowell and his chief of staff, Angela Giancarlo, to lay out the progress the company and broadcasters have made on the transition. “We also identified some of the challenges ahead, reiterated a joint request that the Commission establish February 7, 2010, as the new transition date, and request that, to the extent it is practicable, the FCC resolve all outstanding pending matters in the above referenced proceeding,” the company said in an ex parte filing. Sprint also sent the FCC a required update this week on the transition.
“With nearly 50 percent of the population transitioned, Sprint and the broadcast community have made substantial progress in the BAS transition and appreciate the FCC’s continued consideration of our joint request for an extension,” a Sprint spokesman said Thursday. “In the meantime, we will continue to work together to keep the momentum going and complete the transition.”
President David Donovan and other MSTV representatives met with Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp and advisers to McDowell and acting Chairman Michael Copps on the extension. “While MSS operators should be allowed to operate in markets that have already been cleared, they should not be allowed to operate in markets that have not yet been cleared,” the group said in an ex parte letter. “We observed MSS interests could currently market to more than 138 million people in cleared markets today. There is no sound economic reason to create interference problems in the un-cleared markets.”
On Tuesday, Mike Corkery, DBSD’s acting CEO, met with Copps and Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein to discuss the BAS transition and getting rid of the top-30 markets rule. “DBSD emphasized the importance of certainty and predictability regarding the date by which mobile satellite service systems may initiate commercial service,” the company said in an ex parte filing. “DBSD also reiterated its concern that BAS relocation delays have disrupted and continue to disrupt planning and introduction of nationwide MSS to the public on the proposed elimination of and on the BAS transition.”
Representatives of TerreStar, meanwhile, spoke with advisers to the three commissioners and opposed an extension. TerreStar plans to launch its satellite by June 30 and must certify its network operational by Aug. 30. TerreStar also stressed that the record shows that its MSS service and BAS can share the band in uncleared markets with no interference to BAS operations pending final relocation. DBSD launched a satellite in April 2008. Both operators say prompt clearance of the band and launch of their services are critical because satellites have limited useful lives.