Broadcasters Battle FCC

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules yesterday to allow new, sophisticated wireless devices that it says will allow more innovative wireless broadband services for consumers. The FCC says the signals will operate in broadcast television spectrums on a secondary basis at locations where that spectrum is open. This unused TV spectrum is now commonly referred to as television "white spaces".

However broadcasters have fervently opposed the new rules, claiming that allowing new uses of these white spaces could interfere with TV signals and even impact life-saving emergencies services provided by broadcasters.

It has been a bitter battle. The FCC says that safeguards and a rigorous testing process will prevent problems, "In a process that will be open to the public, applications will be released for public comment prior to agency action. Such devices will be tested by our Laboratory to a "Proof of Performance" standard both in the lab and in a variety of real-world environments to ensure they do not cause interference to licensed services when in use."

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However the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters issued the following statement today:

Yesterday the FCC struck a serious blow to the right of every resident in our country to continue to receive interference-free, local television, by authorizing manufacturers from all over the world to flood the United States with millions and millions of unlicensed, portable devices that will occupy the television band thereby causing harmful interference. All five Commissioners voted in favor of going forward with the Report and Order after some heavy lobbying from a number of opposing interest groups.

The collateral damage from the FCC's action extends beyond you as a television viewer and includes our nation's President, our Governor, our State's Emergency Management Authority, our police and fire authorities and our AMBER Alert program, all of which rely chiefly on local broadcasters to reliably disseminate interference-free life saving information during times of national, regional, state and local emergencies.

Notwithstanding unprecedented opposition to the FCC's rush to judgment, the Commission has voted to allow millions of devices to spread into every nook and cranny of America threatening harmful interference to as many as 100 million households who watch TV, on average, more than 8 hours per day.

All the TAB and many of our member stations asked the FCC to do before holding a vote was to follow its customary practice of inviting public comment on a very complex 400-page report upon which the FCC's vote would hinge, a report that purports to claim these devices can exist without causing harmful interference even though the FCC's own engineers state repeatedly that these devices may not or do not work.

Not only are the companies like Dell, Google and Microsoft placing at risk our state's emergency broadcast system, they are doing so in a way that exempts them from having to pay for their use of the spectrum.

Why should companies like Dell, Google and Microsoft get these airwaves for free? Other pieces of the broadcast spectrum have been auctioned off. Our country is running a possible trillion dollar deficit. Is it too much to expect that Google and Microsoft, to name a few, bid for spectrum that's been valued at upwards of $20 billion?

In addition to the state and local emergency management and AMBER Alert centers, on broadcasters' side are labor unions, minority organizations, Nevada gaming interests, rural groups, cable operators, recording artists, TV manufacturers, the New York City Council, professional sports leagues from the NFL to NBA, The Grand Old Opry, churches and religious leaders and dozens of members of Congress like Jim Cooper and Lincoln Davis. Both Dell Computers and Congressman Marsha Blackburn have always supported the "white spaces" initiative.

The unanimous vote was more than a rush to judgment; it was an abdication of the FCC's statutory trust - a decision made without any genuine regard for protecting lives and property of our residents. Tennessee broadcasters are very disappointed that the FCC appears to be blithely playing Russian roulette with citizens' ability to continue receiving clear and uninterrupted television pictures. We will continue to fight on behalf of our viewers to ensure Tennessee television stations can continue providing quality news, entertainment and critical emergency information - free of interference.