[opendtv] News: Broadcasters Sue FCC Over White Spaces Decision
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 08:47:32 -0500
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/189362-Broadcasters_Sue_FCC_Over_White_Spaces_Decision.php?nid=2228&source=title&rid=5250536
Broadcasters Sue FCC Over White Spaces Decision
AMST and NAB file join petition with federal court of appeals, argue
unlicensed devices interfere with DTV transmissions
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/2/2009 2:39:32 PM MT
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin may be gone, but decisions under his watch
continue to wind up in court.
The most recent was the unanimous decision to allow unlicensed
devices like laptops and smart radios to share the spectrum also used
by digital TV stations.
The Association for Maximum Service Television and the National
Association of Broadcasters jointly filed a petition with the federal
court of appeals for the D.C. Circuit, their preferred venue, to hold
unlawful, vacate and set aside its decision allowing the devices,
which broadcasters argue interferes with DTV transmissions, a fact
they say FCC engineers themselves concluded.
Broadway theater producers and sports leagues, who employ wireless
microphones that use the same swath of spectrum soon to be shared by
unlicensed devices, were also expected to file their own petitions,
or may have already done so, asking the court to throw out the FCC
decision. They are expected to file in the Second Circuit Court of
Appeals (New York).
NAB and MSTV told the court that the commission's decision "to allow
unlicensed access to television spectrum will have a direct, adverse
impact on NAB's and MSTV's members because it will allow harmful
interference with the reception of their broadcast signals."
"One of the key issues here is that the data that was presented to
the commission and reported in the engineering report clearly
demonstrates that your spectrum-sensing will not protect over-the-air
television reception," said MSTV President David Donovan.
The FCC promised in its order, which was adopted Nov. 14, to "take
whatever actions may be necessary to avoid, and if necessary correct,
any interference that may occur." Correcting the interference that
may occur only after the fact is cold comfort to broadcasters whose
future relies on the digital signals they are transitioning to next
February, the same time the FCC will start allowing some types of
unlicensed mobile devices to share the spectrum.
Among the safeguards the FCC is putting in place are allowing only
devices that also have geolocation capability into the band at first,
with a more rigorous testing process for devices that rely on remote
sensing only.
The FCC said it will initially allow hybrid devices that use both
geo-location and spectrum sensing, but will put numerous conditions
on approval of devices that rely only on sensing technologies,
including power limits, requiring extensive testing, a certification
process, public comment on that process, and a separate FCC decision
to approve proposed devices.
Broadcasters argue that without geo-location, the devices are loose
cannons aimed at their business models.
Earlier this year, the FCC began to evangelize the use of white
spaces for advanced wireless services, launching an international
fellowship and training intiative.
"The Broadcasters continued opposition to this revolutionary
technology is disappointing, but certainly not surprising. For
decades, their policy has been to stifle innovation at all costs and
ask questions later and this is no different," said the White Spaces
Alliance in a statement.
The alliance members include Google, Microsoft, Motorola, Dell and
other companies that pushed for allowing the unlicensed devices.
"White Space technology works," said the Alliance. "[I]t is safe, and
the Federal Communications Commission knows better than anyone the
steps that must be taken to ensure that continues to be the case. A
legal challenge to the process and the Commission's expertise in this
area is just another in a long list of ill advised and futile delay
tactics," said Jake Ward, a spokesperson for the alliance.
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