Be Wary Of FCC Spectrum Invite

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission is inviting broadcasters and others to FCC headquarters in Washington on June 25 for a daylong Broadcast Engineering Forum to discuss a proposal to take back a large swatch of TV spectrum and its implications for broadcasters. This could be a great opportunity.

If the broadcasters can get some of their best engineering talent into the room, they can explain their technical objections to the proposal, slow down or perhaps derail FCC's drive to get at their spectrum. That's the hope of David Donovan, president of the Association of Maximum Service Television, who has been a vocal opponent to spectrum tampering. "We can lay out the engineering on a factual and rational basis," he says. "Some of the assumptions [of the task force] are not technically correct." I'm guessing that the broadband task force has no solid idea how it would repack the band to free up six channels at the top of the band. If it did, it would have already released its repacking analysis as it promised in the National Broadband Plan. Instead of showing the FCC the way, broadcasters must use the forum to make the case for preserving broadcasting for what it has always been — free, universal and over the air. Their task ultimately is to convince three commissioners to oppose Chairman Julius Genachowski, preferably this fall when he tries to launch a spectrum-reallocation rulemaking. Remember, broadcasters, if you don't have much spectrum, you don't have much future.