Broadcasters Take Aim at Spectrum Reclamation Proposal
LAS VEGAS -- Broadcasters attacked recommendations in the FCC’s broadband plan to reallocate some of the TV band for mobile wireless use. “We've been trying to fight this for a long time and up until the publication of the National Broadband Plan, all we've had to go up against is rhetoric,” said Robert Hubbard, Association of Maximum Service TV chairman and Hubbard Broadcasting CEO. Now that broadcasters have had an opportunity to read the plan, it’s clear the details and rhetoric don’t match, he said.
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The FCC’s rhetoric has played up how it recognizes the importance of broadcasting, Hubbard said. “But all of the details, you can’t interpret them any other way” than as an assault on broadcasting, he said. “We feel like we're under attack,” but broadcasters need to disagree without being disagreeable, especially when FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski arrives at the convention Tuesday, he said.
The FCC’s Phil Bellaria downplayed the spectrum reallocation elements of the plan, on a panel Monday. “No station will be forced to participate,” said the FCC director of scenario planning for the Omnibus Broadband Initiative. “Most will choose not to participate and the commission certainly doesn’t want most to participate.” However, “there is certainly an opportunity to pack stations more efficiently than they are now,” he said. “We fundamentally believe there is a different and better way to do that now.” During the panel, Bellaria was practically cross-examined by moderator and MSTV President David Donovan. Afterward Bellaria said: “It’s going to be a long process and over time we have to build a lot more trust.”The FCC rulemaking on reclaiming some of the TV band spectrum, expected in Q3, will be limited in scope and focus on “enabler” items that the commission needs to accomplish regardless how it proceeds in reclaiming spectrum, Bellaria said: “Things like trying to address reception issues in the VHF band that we ought to be doing regardless."Broadcasters remain skeptical that there will be 120 MHz of spectrum to be found in the TV band in certain markets. In the northeast corridor, the Midwest and parts of California “there is no way it technologically works,” said Paul Karpowicz, president of Meredith Local Media Group and on the NAB’s executive committee. Skepticism also remains that broadcasters would be able to benefit financially from the proceeds of a voluntary spectrum auction, he said. “Why would Congress let us reap the benefits of something we didn’t pay for?"Broadcasters’ goal is to convince policy makers of the problems with the FCC recommendations, Hubbard said. “Just because a service is free to the American people, doesn’t mean it has no value. … I hope the more responsible heads in government will reject this false premise.”