Broadcasters Rise In Defense of Airwaves

Finally there's a champion for public interest use of a precious communications resource: US television broadcasters. Concerned that the government may reallocate some or all of their spectrum to wireless broadband, TV broadcasters — commercial and noncommercial — have begun mounting a defense of their airwaves. [Editors note: "their"?] In comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission as part of its inquiry into improving broadband access to the Internet, the broadcasters said their digital over-the-air signals are an integral part of the service they provide today and the basis for new digital services tomorrow like mobile TV. They also said that over the years they have vacated a third of the spectrum originally allocated to broadcasting so that it could be used for other purposes. The National Association of Broadcasters and the Association for Maximum Service Television (MSTV) say broadcaster's transition to digital, completed just this June, produced additional efficiencies in the use of the broadcast spectrum. They also challenge the assertion of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and others that there is a severe shortage of spectrum available for wireless broadband. [Editors note: "Spectrum crisis? What spectrum crisis?"] Instead of increasing wireless broadband spectrum by 300 percent as some have suggested, the broadcasters said, the goal should be to improve the efficiency of spectrum used by wireless broadband by 300 percent. The value of broadcasting's use of spectrum cannot be evaluated in strictly financial terms, the broadcasters added. "Over-the-air broadcasting reaches virtually every household in America, and is engineered to serve core public interest goals such as local journalism, universal service, diversity, competition, local economic activity, availability of educational programming, and timely provision of emergency information. "If these objectives were not a factor, the television broadcast service would have different technical and economic characteristics; among other points, it likely would not be free and available to all Americans, especially in more sparsely populated areas."