Tim Warren

Some contraction of TV stations’ footprints as part of voluntary broadcast spectrum auctions is a possible and acceptable scenario, said Sherrese Smith, an aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. Speaking for herself and not the FCC, Smith was responding to concerns for the voluntary auction process raised by Marcellus Alexander, president National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation. He said the voluntary incentive auction process may significantly lessen the reach of broadcasters who don’t choose to auction of their spectrum. They spoke during a National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications panel at NCTA Thursday night.

Ongoing regulatory uncertainty for the wireless communications service band has left licensees unable to develop equipment standards for wireless broadband needs, said WCS licensees. That uncertainty is driven by pending petitions for reconsideration filed at the FCC by the WCS Coalition, which represents WCS licensees, and Sirius XM, they said, and those petitions may mean technical changes to the rules in the band, depending on what the FCC decides. The WCS Coalition is now seeking an extension to buildout requirements imposed when the FCC changed the WCS rules last year.

LightSquared will announce next week a new precision GPS receiver prototype aimed at dispelling claims that a fix for the GPS interference problem is impossible, said LightSquared Executive Vice President Jeff Carlisle. While the new receiver won’t actually fix all of the interference problems with GPS, the new receiver will be touted as a “proof of concept,” he said Wednesday during a conference call with reporters. The FCC and NTIA recently said additional testing of LightSquared’s proposed terrestrial wireless service are necessary before LightSquared can begin commercial terrestrial operations. Meanwhile, GPS interests and some lawmakers voiced support for the NTIA and FCC decision.

The NTIA asked that the Defense Department and Transportation Department work together to develop a joint testing plan on LightSquared’s latest proposals aimed at mitigating interference with GPS signals (CD Sept 12 p5). NTIA’s Friday request focuses on information from cellular and personal/general navigation GPS receivers under LightSquared’s modified proposal. NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling sent the request in a letter to Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn and Deputy DOT Secretary John Porcari. The request also said further high-precision GPS receiver testing isn’t necessary until a specific solution is presented. Observers said that mean possible further delay to the company’s rollout.

LightSquared offered to make some operational adjustments to its rollout plans as part of the continued effort to mitigate the disruption of GPS signals. LightSquared filed a technical presentation Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bmcxfm) at the FCC detailing the changes as part of an ex parte filing and provided information on the filing to reporters Friday. GPS interests were still reviewing the proposed changes, but reacted with initial skepticism. A LightSquared executive, who refused to be identified, said the government agencies seem to be in a “decision-making mode,” based on recent interactions.

Several governmental agencies will voice strong reservations over LightSquared’s revised plans for beginning wireless service in the lower part of its L-band spectrum in a Thursday Congressional hearing, according to copies of written testimony obtained by Communications Daily. The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology hearing on the impact of LightSquared on federal science activities is scheduled for 2 p.m. in room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

The FCC review of Dish Network’s transfer of control and waiver applications (CD Aug 23 p5) will likely use LightSquared as the starting point for discussions on possible conditions of the deals and any resulting waivers, said observers. It will be up to the company and others to convince the agency of major differences between Dish’s situation and business plans and those of LightSquared if it hopes to see a major departure from the conditions imposed on LightSquared, they said. Many questions about Dish’s intent remain unanswered, and the commission will likely seek far more specific information on the plans before conditions are imposed, they said.

Congress should specify a date to begin the phase-out of distant signal licenses, while leaving the repeal of local signal licenses until later, the U.S. Copyright Office said in a report to Congress released late Monday. The report (http://xrl.us/bmbx7j) on phasing out Sections 111, 119 and 122 of the Copyright Act, which let pay-TV providers carry broadcast programming without signing deals with every program copyright holder, was required under last year’s Satellite TV Extension and Localism Act (STELA). The FCC Media Bureau also released a report also required under STELA to Congress (http://xrl.us/bmbx69) on so-called ‘orphan counties’ -- those getting broadcast signals as part of designated market area based in another state.

Dish Network asked the FCC to waive integrated service rules in its purchase of S-band mobile satellite service/ancillary terrestrial component licensees TerreStar and DBSD. The request made Monday was part of Dish’s application to transfer TerreStar’s FCC licenses to Dish. Dish asked the FCC to combine its Monday filing with a previously filed application for DBSD’s licenses (CD April 12 p7). Dish is in the process of buying the MSS companies out of bankruptcy, which would give Dish 40 MHz of spectrum currently allocated for MSS/ATC use. The spectrum is also part of the 300 MHz identified in the National Broadband Plan as spectrum that could be available for broadband use within the next five years.

The GPS industry challenged LightSquared over the scope of interference to GPS signals if it were to begin service only in the lower part of the L-band. The objections came in reply comments filed at the FCC Monday. The effect to GPS services would be more far-ranging than LightSquared has let on, they said. The reply comments filed in docket 11-109 discuss the results reported by the FCC-required technical working group, meant to investigate interference concerns from LightSquared’s planned service. LightSquared continued to advocate its latest proposal, filed as part of the working group report, to begin service in the spectrum furthest away from the GPS services while also chastising GPS interests over their unwillingness to cooperate.