The Association for Maximum Service Television (MSTV), the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX television networks filed comments with the FCC on October 22 alerting the agency to recent statements made by 'white space' proponents, including the New America Foundation, a Google-backed organization in Washington. The filing supplements an emergency request submitted by broadcasters last week, which urges the Commission to follow standard practice and seek public comment on a recent engineering report.
"The end-game for these groups is, over the next few years, to increase the power of personal, portable devices to dangerously high levels, with complete disregard for the effects on the public's television broadcasting service (as well as on licensed wireless microphone operations and cable)," the filing said.
"Whether a white spaces proponent is motivated by the goal of destroying television or is just indifferent to the consequences that flow from embracing sensing technologies that have failed and from an adjacent-channel power limit (40mW) that would destroy service, the result is the same," the filing continued.
In comments made yesterday at a conference held by the New America Foundation (NAF) and Google, Michael Calabrese, director of NAF's wireless future program, told attendees that free over-the-air broadcasting should be replaced entirely by subscription-based video services. With respect to future 'white space' power limits set by the FCC, The New America Foundation, whose board chairman is Google CEO Eric Schmidt, is "going to push that up over time," Calabrese said, according to an article in today's issue of Communications Daily.
Communications Daily also reported that Mark McHenry, CEO of Shared Spectrum Company, told conference attendees, "The FCC is going to start conservatively, but we're going to wear them down. In a few years, we're going to be at 10 W all over the place."
Commenting on Calabrese's and McHenry's statements, NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton said, "After yesterday's comments, it is now crystal-clear that the 'new America' Mr. Calabrese is working toward is one where free television is thrown by the wayside to make room for subscription-based services marketed and sold by his organization's financial backers."
"And with the consistent failure of spectrum-sensing devices, Mr. McHenry's plan to 'wear down' the FCC and increase power-levels exponentially is deeply disturbing," Wharton continued.
Separately, wireless microphone manufacturer Shure Incorporated filed comments with the FCC supporting an emergency petition filed by NAB, MSTV and the broadcast networks urging the Commission to follow standard practice and seek comment on a recent engineering report regarding 'white space' devices. Broadcast affiliate associations have also endorsed the request for a comment period.
In related news, chief executives from the ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX television networks wrote FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on October 23 expressing concern over the reliability of 'white space' devices relying solely on spectrum-sensing technology as well as a reported FCC plan to set power limitations at 40 milliwatts.
The letter, signed by News Corporation President and COO Peter Chernin, Walt Disney President and CEO Robert Iger, CBS Corporation President and CEO Leslie Moonves, and NBC Universal President and CEO Jeff Zucker, also urged the FCC to follow standard practice and seek public comment and peer review of an engineering field report released last week.
"[G]iven the sustained and repeated failure of sensing devices and technology reported by OET, it is hard to understand how the report supports a 'proof of concept' for sensing, and even harder to see how that 'proof of concept' constitutes the kind of solid scientific foundation the Commission normally requires before proceeding to adopt a rule allowing a new service," said the network chiefs.
"Second, there is no data in the OET report that gives comfort that a 40 milliwatt device operating on the first adjacent channel in a market would not cause widespread interference disrupting television viewing for unacceptable numbers of viewers in such a market," reads the letter. "The 40 milliwatt provision sounds like a political compromise rather than one driven by rigorous science and the laws of physics."
"[T]he FCC has to get this matter right the first time," the executives said. "If millions of unlicensed devices flood the market in the next few years, and it turns out that sensing still does not work, or that 40 milliwatts is far too high... how will that damage be undone?"
Noting that interference could also impact cable viewers, the letter expressed broadcasters' commitment to working toward a white space solution that does not "unduly jeopardize television viewing."
