NAB: FCC Wants TV Spectrum for 'Google Channels'

The National Association of Broadcasters told the Federal Communications Commission that its effort to reserve "vacant" channels after the incentive auction for unlicensed use is a dramatic policy shift that will harm broadcasters and viewers in an effort to create new channels for Google and Microsoft, who are pushing for unlicensed spectrum. That came in meetings between NAB executives and top aides to FCC commissioners, where they said the FCC was proposing doing tangible harm for speculative gains according to a copy of the ex parte filing. The FCC has proposed that in markets where there are available channels in the TV band after the incentive auction repack -- available meaning not occupied by full-power TV stations -- one or more should be reserved for unlicensed use.

"[T]he Commission is proposing to create new 'Microsoft Channels' or 'Google Channels' at the direct expense of over-the-air viewers," they told the FCC staffers, adding: "Aside from evicting important services already serving consumers in the band, the proposal has the potential to severely curtail broadcaster innovation as well. Forcing full power stations to protect their new primary-status unlicensed neighbors would limit broadcasters’ ability to move to a more flexible standard should they elect to do so."