Broadcasters Define Higher Purpose for Spectrum

Satellite industry-focused coverage on issues concerning the ever-more ubiquitous mobile broadband spectrum resource and its allocation by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) tends to be focused on the operator’s perspective. Mobile operators have been fighting both their competitors and the FCC over spectrum for years and satellite sector battles often have been settled through acuiqistion or bankruptcy.
    NAB gives satellite journalists such as myself an interesting opportunity to hear arguments from an entirely different front in the spectrum battle. Cable broadcast sector lawyers and analysts gathered at NAB’s "Spectrum: The Air We Breathe" panel to complain about broadcasters being cast out of the FCC’s spectrum allocation discussion. These analysts claim that the FCC repeatedly has told cable broadcasters that spectrum should be reserved and allocated for "higher purposes." No examples were given of what specifically constitutes a "higher purpose," but the consensus here is that TV spectrum is at the bottom of the priority list.
    This is news to me, and perhaps it’s because I’ve covered MSS players facing their own regulatory frustrations for so long that it’s all too easy for me to say "join the club." But what’s different about the NAB broadcaster’s panel is that the experts in this sector have a list of options at the congressional level and will go to its political supporters with the idea that allocating TV spectrum to cable broadcasters is a matter of "grave importance for the entire American communications industry."
    How lucky are terrestrial broadcasters that they have a black book full of congressmen and senators to hear their complaints, while satellite operators have a difficult time scheduling face-to-face time with a single elected official. It’s a shame that spectrum battles in the satellite sector largely are fought by trying to prove its capability of meeting FCC requirements and not through lobbying the medium as a matter of national economic health. I wish I was being sarcastic when I say that, but after satellite’s results in the U.S. National Broadband Plan funding plan, I’m completely in favor of satellite incorporating more politics in its sales pitch.