Proposed to make room in the airwaves for new direct broadcast satellite operators

Broadcasting & Cable, September, 1998

The FCC last week proposed to make room in the airwaves for new direct broadcast satellite operators. The commission is considering whether to make an addition 500 mhz of spectrum available in the 18 ghz band for DBS signals. Much of the band is already allocated for shared use by satellite services and earthbound operators such as microwave communications, cable television relay stations, and electronic newsgathering activities.

The FCC is proposing to reduce the amount of separation between signals to create the extra space and no existing services would lose any of their allocated spectrum.