The FCC Broadly Addresses the National Broadband Plan

The FCC has been tasked with creating a National Broadband Plan by February 17, 2010. This plan is part of and driven by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The Recovery Act states that the National Broadband Plan shall seek to ensure all people of the United States have access to broadband capability and shall establish benchmarks for meeting that goal. The FCC is working with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on this plan.

The FCC Chairman announced that the development of the National Broadband Plan will be a data-driven process, and there is much that is new about the process. In addition to the traditional practice of notices, filings, and rule-making processes (GN Docket No. 09-51), the FCC is going further by convening discussion panels, planning field trips and establishing an interactive Web presence. The FCC's home page now has a prominent link to a new website as the nexus for this project. The site is http://www.broadband.gov/. (There is even a countdown until the final report is released.)

The webpage outlines the plan to get to the plan, with field hearings, workshops, and various Web resources. In August, the FCC created Blogband, along with a Twitter site. The blog is to help explain the process of developing the National Broadband Plan and provide an accessible forum for public discussion. The link is at http://blog.broadband.gov/. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has posted at http://blog.broadband.gov/?cat=34.

This website is also the launch point for the FCC's use of the crowd-sourcing platform, Ideascale. The FCC has announced they will also be launching on the social media sites Facebook and YouTube, which will be linked through www.fcc.gov/connect. The Tweet connection is http://twitter.com/fcc. The FCC is also launching www.fcc.gov/rss as a central repository of data feeds from the agency. The site provides a set of links with other broadband-related activities including the Recovery Act Broadband Initiatives, the Wireless Broadband Access Task Force, the FCC Satellite Rural Forum and the Indian Telecommunications Initiatives.

A series of 29 workshops was established. To view the full list of the workshops see workshops. The workshops held at the FCC last week took on the topics of telehealth, online content, and spectrum. The workshops that may be of the most interest to many readers were panels held on September 17 which addressed spectrum supply and demand, sources of spectrum, and technologies to facilitate more productive spectrum use. The first panel was on "Wireless Broadband Spectrum: Supply and Demand," the second panel was on "Sources of Spectrum: Opportunities on the Horizon" and the third panel was on "Innovating in Spectrum Access Technological Advances and Other Approaches to Facilitate More Productive Spectrum Use." The questions addressed by these panels can be found at spectrum and the transcripts of the panels will be filed as comments in GN Docket No. 09-51.

In short, the panel discussions included a presentation of real world experiences counterpoised with theoretical thinking and policy musings. One of the more interesting points during a panel was when a panelist suggested that unlicensed broadband devices should be allowed in spectrum that is used by the government or that was auctioned for commercial use. Those incumbents leaped to their defense and pointed out that such devices would result in interference. One of the more disturbing points was another panelist asserting that interference is not defined, so we don't know what it is.

The FCC has also announced the dates and sites for initial field hearings. The Commission will host field hearings on September 21, 2009 at the Texas University Club, in Austin, Texas and at soon to be announced locations on October 1, 2009, in the Washington, D.C. area; and October 6, 2009 in Charleston, S. C. area.

There are 149 days to go…and opportunities to provide feedback directly to the FCC are unprecedented in scope and ease.

2010 NAB Show Call for Speakers

Call for Technical Papers – NAB Broadcast Engineering Conference

The 2010 NAB Show will host the 64th Broadcast Engineering Conference. This world-class conference addresses the most recent developments in broadcast technology and focuses on the opportunities and challenges that face broadcast engineering professionals. Each year hundreds of broadcast professionals from around the world attend the conference. They include practicing broadcast engineers and technicians, engineering consultants, contract engineers, broadcast equipment manufacturers, distributors, R&D engineers plus anyone specifically interested in the latest broadcast technologies.

Do you have something to share?
If you feel qualified to speak at the NAB Broadcast Engineering Conference, we invite you to submit a technical paper proposal. Not all acceptable submissions can be included in the conference, due to the large number of submissions that are received and the limited number of available time slots.

PLAN TO ATTEND!
The IEEE Broadcast Technology Society
59th ANNUAL BROADCAST SYMPOSIUM
October 14-16, 2009
The Westin Alexandria
Alexandria, VA, USA
www.ieee.org/bts/symposium

2009 ATSC Seminar on Audio Loudness
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Wiley Rein Conference Center
1776 K St, NW
Washington, DC 20006
http://www.atsc.org/seminars/loudness09.php
Cost for ATSC members is $50.00 for pre-registrants, $75.00 on-site.