In EBS vote, FCC denies special treatment for public broadcasters

Public broadcasters are reacting with disappointment to a Federal Communications Commission decision that will give cellular providers access to a swath of spectrum previously reserved for use by educational entities. The FCC’s July 10 vote affects the Educational Broadband Service spectrum, a portion of the 2.5 GHz band that the commission designated for noncommercial use in 1962. About 50 institutions affiliated with public broadcasters hold licenses to EBS spectrum. Though only noncommercial entities can hold EBS licenses, the FCC allows them to lease up to 95 percent of the spectrum for commercial use. Many public broadcasters lease most of their EBS spectrum to Sprint, with some earning millions of dollars annually from the agreements. Some pubcasters use their remaining EBS spectrum for services including emergency communications, educational content for schools and wireless broadband internet services in rural areas. Others don’t use it at all. EBS advocates in public broadcasting argue that by auctioning off EBS spectrum, the FCC will put educational entities at a disadvantage as they find themselves unable to compete with deep-pocketed cellular companies. Many observers expect that Sprint will end up acquiring much of the newly auctioned EBS spectrum.