NAB RESPONSE TO WIRELESS INNOVATION ALLIANCE

WASHINGTON, DC – NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton issued a statement today in response to a letter received from the Wireless Innovation Alliance. The letter, which was addressed to NAB President and CEO David K. Rehr, reiterated the wireless organization's desire to introduce unlicensed devices that would operate in broadcast spectrum, a prototype of which was shown to cause interference to broadcast TV reception.

Addressing WIA's claim that NAB has engaged in a "misinformation campaign" and that the testing process "should be left to the FCC's expert engineers," Wharton responded:

"A successful consumer transition from analog to digital television is now imperiled by a cadre of companies that have been hoisted on their own flawed technology petard.

"Try as they might, portable unlicensed device advocates like Google and Microsoft cannot run and hide from the fact that their own technology utterly failed FCC testing. That is not 'misinformation,' but rather an inconvenient truth."

The entire report issued in July by the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology can be read here.

To date, 70 lawmakers have expressed concern over the use of unlicensed personal-portable devices in the broadcast spectrum, including:

Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Senator Pete V. Domenici (R-NM)
Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-IA)
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO)
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC)
Rep. John Spratt (D-SC)
Rep. J. Gresham Barrett (R-SC)
Rep. Henry E. Brown (R-SC)
Rep. David Davis (R-TN)
Rep. Ric Keller (R-FL)
Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-IL)
Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN)
Rep. Vito J. Fossella (R-NY)
Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-NY)
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY)
Rep. Howard P. McKeon (R-CA)
Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA)
Rep. Marion Berry (D-AR)
Rep. Lincoln Davis (D-TN)
Rep. David Scott (D-GA)
Rep. John Barrow (D-GA)
Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-NC)
Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC)
Rep. Robin Hayes (R-NC)
Rep. Walter Jones, Jr. (R-NC)
Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC)
Rep. Melvin Watt (D-NC)
Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-NC)
Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC)
Rep. David Price (D-NC)
Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC)
Rep. Gene Green (D-TX)
Rep. Ralph Hall (D-TX)
Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-TX)
Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX)
Rep. Nick Lampson (D-TX)
Rep. John Carter (R-TX)
Rep. Al Green (D-TX)
Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH)
Rep. Dave Hobson (R-OH)
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)
Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-OH)
Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-OH)
Rep. Tom Price, M.D. (R-GA)
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA)
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA)
Rep. David Scott (D-GA)
Rep. John Lewis (D-GA)
Rep. Phil Gingrey, M.D. (R-GA)
Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA)
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL)
Rep. Jo Bonner (R-AL)
Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN)
Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ)
Rep. Jon Porter (R-NV)
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO)
Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV)
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT)
Rep. Michael Michaud (D-ME)
Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME)
Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN)
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ)

About NAB
The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association that advocates on behalf of more than 8,300 free, local radio and television stations and also broadcast networks before Congress, the Federal Communications Commission and the Courts. Information about NAB can be found at www.nab.org.

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