LPTV, Translators Up Spectrum Lobbying, Without Concrete Results

"We're scared stiff we're going to be stuck in a very large way” without channels in any incentive auction, said National Translator Association President Byron St. Claire. “We think that the FCC at the present time is not very interested in giving us much protection.” The agency “seems to be singularly uninterested in exploring” broadband as a secondary terrestrial TV service, he said, citing the Media Bureau’s rejection of an experimental authorization request.

The rejection “makes me think that the FCC, at least the people at the top, are antagonistic to having a combined use, a hybrid,” St. Claire said. LPTV operator WatchTV had asked to test new DTV transmission technology on some of its stations for a hybrid broadband-broadcast model (CD Sept 16 p11). NTA and the broadband coalition said they're fighting a “spectrum grab” by incumbent carriers. The groups said they'll meet with bureau officials and the office of Commissioner Robert McDowell. A bureau spokeswoman declined to comment.

"An auction is going to be years down the line,” and letting TV stations also do broadband and other services could have results now, said Chairman Irwin Podhajser of the Coalition for Free TV and Broadband. The group representing LPTV and full-power stations, which formed in the spring, allied with the NTA to visit Capitol Hill and the FCC this week. A voluntary incentive auction may be OK with those groups, “as long as every broadcaster is protected and can find a new location” on the TV dial, Podhajser said. “We have revenue sources now” for VOD on broadcasting, and we can “start to offer solutions for broadband.”

The CEA and CTIA, seeking auctions, said they'll help free up spectrum. “These voluntary auctions are a pro-innovation policy that would stimulate jobs creation and our economy, help alleviate the wireless Internet spectrum crunch and bring in billions and billions to reduce the deficit while creating a financial windfall for broadcasters choosing to participate,” a CEA spokesman said. He said that will benefit all parties.

NAB thinks there could be merit in the broadband ideas, like the one from the LPTV/translator groups. “The idea of broadcasters themselves using spectrum to help alleviate any alleged broadband shortage would proably have some appeal,” an NAB spokesman said, “as opposed to an FCC repacking plan which threatens television service in northern border TV markets, which it does.” The association has said repacking of channels could leave some cities like Detroit without frequencies for many TV stations, to protect Canadian stations.

The CTIA and the LPTV/translator groups differ on what secondary status for those stations means. The LPTV/translator group wants those stations granted permanent status, and contends that the current secondary status doesn’t preclude doing that. Opponents say that’s contrary to what the FCC has envisioned for those outlets. “Historically, secondary meant that these stations could not cause interference to primary broadcast stations,” St. Claire said. “But some have said at their convenience that these stations can be discarded at will. And we're fighting them on that."

"When spectrum was reallocated from TV stations 60 to 69 to public safety and commercial wireless services, low-power licensees were required to either cease operations or otherwise relocate their operations without any reimbursement or protection from the new licensees at the end of the DTV transition,” said CTIA Vice President Jot Carpenter. “That should be the case now, too. There is no basis for these secondary users to be afforded new protection rights during a reallocation process undertaken in an effort to address America’s spectrum crisis."

Hill lobbying went well, the visiting executives said, raising their hopes that Congress will keep LPTV and translators in mind in spectrum legislation. “There was a widespread misunderstanding in the halls of Congress -- they felt that translators and low-power TV had some protection in the bills that are being discussed now,” St. Claire said. “And one thing we pointed out to them is that that doesn’t seem to be the case: The FCC could simply cast us aside.” Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress want money from spectrum auctions to trim the deficit -- “all see there is money to be made,” said Podhajser.

"The most negative we heard from anyone” on the Hill, from a Democratic aide to the House Commerce Committee, “was that they would be against any rule change that would allow broadcasters to become Internet providers” only, Podhajser said: But “they would be open to technologies” letting broadcasters sell Web services secondarily. Executives said they met with aides to House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and committee members Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., and Gene Green, D-Texas. Bono Mack’s office “listened carefully to their concerns,” a spokesman said. “Congresswoman Bono Mack has not made any commitments yet. She intends to continue to seek input from all interested parties to make certain that we develop smart and effective telecom policies.”

LPTV and translators ought to do more lobbying, said a longtime lawyer for the industry. “They all ought to be pounding on the doors in Washington,” and these efforts are a good step, said Peter Tannenwald of Fletcher Heald. “The disinclination of both Congress and the FCC to do anything for low-power TV is against the American tradition of encouraging small businesses,” since many of them are individually owned or not affiliated with broadcast or cable networks, he said. “They certainly need to speak louder. Because why would Congress and the FCC totally ignore them unless they don’t believe that there is enough out there to be worried about?”