Lower 700 MHz Band-Clearing Order Curbs Broadcasters' Negotiating Powers

Communications Today, Dec 14, 2001

The Federal Communication Commission's order for clearing UHF TV broadcasters from the lower 700 MHz band bears some similarity to its order in September for clearing UHF broadcasters in the upper 700 MHz band, but differs on a crucial point.

The commission on Wednesday adopted an order reallocating to fixed and mobile wireless services the 48 MHz of spectrum in the lower 700 MHz band (698- 746 MHz), which is used by UHF broadcasters on channels 52-59.

Unlike its order for clearing UHF broadcasters on channels 60-69 in the upper 700 MHz band (747-806 MHz), the order for clearing the lower 700 MHz band doesn't include specific rules directing broadcasters to negotiate deals with wireless companies to help cover their costs for moving to digital TV channels.

Instead, "regulatory requests related to voluntary band clearing in the lower 700 MHz band will be considered on a case-by-case basis, considering all relevant public interest factors," the FCC said.

UHF broadcasting trade groups contend that allowing broadcasters to negotiate deals to get paid for moving their operations would accelerate clearing the bands. However, the FCC has been criticized by members of Congress and by public policy analysts for its upper 700 MHz band-clearing rule, which effectively allows UHF broadcasters to sell spectrum they received for free.

"Allowing industry to negotiate private marketplace deals that dictate the governance and the transfer of spectrum and to earn profits on the spectrum through such arrangements is outrageous," Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) said in a letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell following the upper 700 MHz band-clearing order. "Such action clearly violates the mandates and standards to which the FCC is required to adhere."

"Rather than allow broadcasters to profit off public airwaves they received for free and undermine the DTV transition, the FCC is falling in line with the congressional leadership's insistence that it obey the law as written," Michael Calabrese, director of the Public Assets Program at the New America Foundation, told Communications Today.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who was appointed to the commission after its upper 700 MHz band-clearing order, said the lower 700 MHz order is an improvement. "We come down squarely on the side of a public interest review of each case rather than letting purely commercial transactions determine the future of this critical public spectrum," Copps said in a statement filed with the commission's vote.

As part of the U.S. television industry's migration to digital service, TV broadcasters have until Dec. 31, 2006, to vacate the 700 MHz frequencies. However, TV broadcasters must meet that deadline only if at least 85 percent of U.S. households have access to digital TV signals at that time.

Like the upper 700 MHz decision, the order adopted Wednesday allows wireless services to be launched in the 698-746 MHz band while UHF broadcasters continue to use those frequencies for analog services after they move to unused frequencies in channels 14-52 reserved for digital operations. Digital signals would not interfere with surrounding operations, but few digital TVs are being used in U.S. markets, and cable service providers aren't required to carry digital stations' broadcasts. >TK Siemens [SI]: China Mobile's [CHL]: Siemens and NEC [NIPNY]: