FCC Draft on Interservice Interference Rejects Broadcaster Calls for Interference Cap
A draft order and Further NPRM on interservice interference after the incentive auction will reject calls from NAB and broadcast industry engineers for a cap on the total amount of aggregate interference a station can receive, a senior FCC official told us. The item was circulated by Wheeler this week (CD Sept.9 p4) along with other auction-related draft NPRMs on low-power TV, wireless mics and the commission’s Part 15 rules, the official said. The wireless mic and Part 15 NPRMs are slated for the commission’s Sept. 30 meeting, while the interference and LPTV items are on circulation for electronic voting, said the official.
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Though the FCC has proposed a 0.5 percent cap on the interference any one station would cause on the auction, all the respondents to a public notice on the proposal (CD July 8 p4) said the commission should limit interference on the basis of what any one station could receive, not based on what each would generate. “An aggregate cap is essential to ensuring that no station is subject to an unreasonable amount of new interference and that viewers do not lose stations unnecessarily,” emailed NAB Executive Vice President-Strategic Planning Rick Kaplan.
Broadcasters and the FCC are far apart on interference caps because their engineers don’t agree, said a broadcast attorney who has clients in favor of a cap. The commission’s engineers believe the 0.5 percent cap on interference will hardly ever be exceeded, while broadcasters believe it will happen frequently, said the lawyer. If too much interference is allowed, a repacked broadcaster could be assigned a channel so compromised as to be useless, the attorney said. Such a situation would be a powerful basis for a lawsuit against the FCC and the auction, the attorney said. “Without a meaningful cap, the Commission cannot credibly say it is taking ‘all reasonable efforts’ to preserve broadcasters’ coverage areas and populations served,” emailed Kaplan. The NAB has already argued that the FCC hasn’t fulfilled that mandate from Congress in its current court challenge against the auction (CD Aug 28 p14). That the commission would reject the proposed cap despite all commenters supporting it is a sign of the broadcasters’ lack of influence over the auction, the attorney said.
Along with discussion of a cap, the draft interservice interference item examines the technical standards for determining if there is interference between a wireless carrier and broadcaster operating in adjacent markets, the official said. The order provides a definition of what an impaired market will be -- what is the product that carriers will buy, the official said.
The unlicensed NPRM will set technical standards for unlicensed use of parts of the TV band, and is slated for a vote by commissioners Sept. 30, the official said. It examines the commission’s Part 15 rules and interference between licensed and unlicensed services in the guard bands and duplex gaps, the official said. The NPRM proposes technical standards and a plan for dividing the duplex gap between services. The other NPRM set for the meeting looks at the future of wireless mics in the 600 MHz band. Unlicensed mics are also to be examined, but as part of the unlicensed NPRM, the official said.
Like the interference NPRM, the LPTV NPRM has been circulated for electronic vote by commissioners. It addresses space that will be available for LPTV and proposes a series of measures to help the low-power industry, said the official. The item is on a Media Bureau docket, but also part of the incentive auction docket, the official said.