It is not a nightmare. You have read it correctly.

According to recent reports, the FCC's broadband plan mandated by Congress is due next February and although the consideration of freeing spectrum for commercial use is not final, the FCC is requesting information from the industry to evaluate the current and future utilization of broadcast airwaves.

The idea is to reclaim unused airwaves to maximize the use of the spectrum and offer it for auction to wireless communications businesses (in addition to the airwaves-space reclaimed on the recent DTV transition).

As reported by the Washington Post: “ Levin(FCC) said last month that the agency was considering, as part of its national broadband plan, a take back of spectrum from broadcaster to meet the exploding demand for wireless network capacity. Wireless carriers have warned of a looming crisis for wireless spectrum as more people using smart phone and other data-intensive devices flood to the mobile Web.”

Here is a link to the Official FCC notice:

FCC Public Notice DA 09-2518 – Data Sought on Uses of Spectrum

Broadcasters Spoke Up

Fox responded as follows: “We explained that, in addition to its free, over-the-air television service, Fox has plans to use the spectrum licensed to its digital television broadcast stations to provide consumers with a variety of new mobile television and other mobile media applications,” according to News Corp.’s filing signed by senior vice president of regulatory affairs, Maureen A. O’Connell. "We pointed out that Fox is making a serious commitment to making mobile television work as a viable business model and as a unique new media platform for consumers."

Along the same lines, after a meeting with the FCC, several companies related to broadcasting filed their comments as follows:

"The broadcasters also described some current and planned broadcaster uses for spectrum currently allocated for free over-the-air broadcast service, including high definition programming and mobile digital television services. The broadcasters specifically disagreed with a statement by one member of the FCC task force that most over-the-air service is provided in standard definition format and could be offered in any given market by a single broadcast transmission using multicast technology. We observed that a plan to limit the ability of broadcasters to provide over-the-air HDTV service would harm the viewing public and relationships with other multichannel video providers."

In other responses from broadcasters, they indicated that they have plans to use their 6MHz bandwidth space and those SD stations that do not fully use their 6MHz slot may be unable to combine their sub-channel with the sub-channel of another station, i.e. the physical location of the antennas for the demographic areas they cover.

According to Broadcasting & Cable “FCC Commissioner Michael Copps took it to broadcasters again Tuesday, saying that if the FCC can't rejuvenate shuttered newsrooms, put the brakes on "mind-numbing 'monoprogramming' and otherwise turn the tide (he calls it a "tsunami"), of consolidation, then "maybe those who want the spectrum back have the better of the argument after all."

National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) spokesperson Dennis Wharton declared, “Broadband deployment to unserved areas is a worthy goal, and broadcasters believe we can help the FCC accomplish its mission without stifling growth opportunities of free and local TV stations and the millions of viewers that we serve”.

"We would hope policymakers would remember that after spending $15 billion upgrading to the next generation of television, broadcasters just returned to the government more than a quarter of the spectrum used for free and local TV service," said Wharton.

What do you expect the CEA would say?

According to another source: “The Consumer Electronics Association, however, told the FCC last Friday that it believed broadcasters were sitting on $62 billion worth of spectrum. In their commissioned report, economist Coleman Bazelon said that those over-the-airwaves had become less important for broadcasters.”

Consumers

Where are the consumers mentioned in all these exchanges? Does anyone care about the investment consumers made on the HDTVs because of the DTV transition?

This could take a wrong turn for consumers relying on over-the-air services and perhaps for the others as well. It has the potential of a negative effect on HD image quality, on mobile DTV, and on the surviving ability of multicast DTV stations not using the whole capacity of their 6MHz channel slot and expected to combine their service with other similar SD stations.

Consumers have invested top dollars in HDTV(s) since 1998 due in large part to a DTV transition mandated by our government. The same government could disenfranchise consumers now if allowed to implement new policies that would restrict the space needed by broadcasters to distribute the HD quality that motivated American consumer purchases over the last 10+ years; otherwise, they could have bought a much cheaper SD set and stayed with it since day one.

Although HD was never mandated within the DTV transition, it was continuously promoted as the TV of the future due to its improved quality, with 9 times the resolution of analog NTSC, in addition to being a more efficient “ones-and-zeros transmission”.

The whole industry achieved incredible large expectations over the past decade. Manufacturers sold in excess of 110 million DTVs, most of them of HD quality. Content creators and distributors offered programs of HD quality so consumers could take advantage of the image improvement, and capitalize on their HDTV investment. Manufacturers implemented integrated over-the-air tuners into all DTVs, as mandated by the FCC, which consumers paid in excess of their relative value.

Consumers can always turn to other HD premium sources from cable, satellite, IPTV, and pre-recorded media such as Blu-ray to properly utilize the investment made in new HDTV sets, but that is not the point.

I am not sure I understand the constraints the FCC is facing with the broadband plan, and why the available spectrum is apparently very different and now insufficient than the original DTV transition plan, but the FCC and the industry must not lose sight of the meaning that DTV and HDTV still have to consumers regarding their investment in the name of quality, not digital quantity over less bandwidth.

This is not only an issue for broadcasters, NAB, and CEA, but also a concern primarily to consumers deserving the preservation of the widely promoted and awaited HDTV quality; in addition to mobile DTV, demographic DTV services, etc. as long as the quality of HD in the shared bandwidth is not compromised.

Let us also not forget that there would be no broadcasters, no CEA, no NAB, and most probably a very different and limited FCC, if the public (consumers) have no motivating reason to support the services, hardware, and organizations. Therefore, proper perspective is imperative when making ANY decision that would affect the consumer end of the market. Not to mention the investment they made in a digital transition, in which they were given no choice other than to comply with the mandate.

If you would like to provide your feedback to our government about this matter please contact the Congress Senator/Representative that will evaluate the plan proposed by the FCC in February, and also provide your feedback directly to the FCC's group in charge of the broadband plan: http://blog.broadband.gov/?entryId=17436

And feel free to provide a link to this article if you would like.

Posted by Rodolfo La Maestra, December 8, 2009 3:15 PM