You are here: Home Page » News » Commission says 24 million U.S. citizens lack broadband access

Jul 23, 2010 8:00 AM, By Michael Grotticelli

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski called a new report an “honest look” at the state of broadband access in the United States.

An estimated 14 million to 24 million American citizens — mostly living in poor or rural areas — still lack access to broadband services, and the prospects for deployment remains “bleak,” the FCC said last week.

The report, in response to a congressional inquiry, said the lack of broadband availability will continue without reform of the universal service program and changes to U.S. broadband policy that lower the cost of deployment. Such changes, the FCC said, would prod more broadband providers to deploy service in rural, poor and other underserved areas.

This is the first time since the FCC began issuing such reports in 1999 that the commission has concluded that broadband isn’t being deployed fast enough. FCC chairman Julius Genachowski called it an “honest look” at the state of broadband access in the United States.

“The report points out the great broadband successes in the United States, including as many as 290 million Americans who have gained access to broadband over the past decade,” Genachowski said. “But the statute requires more. It requires the agency to reach a conclusion about whether all — not some, not most — Americans are being served in a reasonable and timely fashion.”

That’s not happening, he added. However, the FCC’s national broadband plan, released in March, proposes a plan for achieving universal deployment. The report focuses on ways to speed broadband deployment, including revamping the FCC’s Universal Service Fund to support broadband, increasing the amount of wireless spectrum available for commercial and unlicensed uses, and collecting better broadband data to assist policymakers and consumers.

The report also redefines the speed necessary to constitute broadband service. The FCC has updated the decade-old definition of 200kb/s downstream to 4Mb/s.

Robert McDowell, a Republican member of the FCC, said he disagreed with the report’s conclusions. It is a “180-degree reversal” from earlier reports, he said.

“Instead of focusing on the great strides that America has made in broadband deployment … this report emphasizes subscribership,” he said in a statement. “Collecting granular data, including subscribership numbers, is important. But, subscribership data does not equate to the ‘availability’ of broadband. In many instances the report confuses the facts by substituting the terms ‘deployment’ and ‘subscribership’ as if they were synonymous and interchangeable.”

Broadband providers have invested an average of $27 billion in their networks between 2003 and 2009, added Meredith Baker, another Republican member of the FCC. The congressional mandate for the FCC to examine broadband deployment doesn’t require universal access by 2010, she said.

“The question is whether network providers continue to make demonstrable progress toward that goal,” she said in a statement. “All evidence suggests that answer be made in the affirmative.”

Broadband providers AT&T and Verizon Communications didn’t immediately respond to the report. Comcast had no comment.

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You are here: Home Page » News » FCC defends authority to mandate newspaper/station cross-ownership

Jul 23, 2010 8:00 AM, By Michael Grotticelli

The FCC last week defended its authority to mandate newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules in a brief filed with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appeals court is currently hearing a media ownership challenge to a ruling from the Bush administration era. The FCC, then with a Republican majority, was led by former chairman Kevin Martin. Broadcasters argue that the FCC did not go far enough and should have lifted the cross-ownership ban. Those against greater media consolidation argued for more regulation.

FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick said in the brief that it was reasonable to relax the rules in the top 20 markets because combinations generally raise fewer diversity concerns due to more media outlets.

The FCC defended its power and asked the court to either drop or deny the petitions. If it doesn’t, the FCC asked that the court uphold the commission’s authority. It was not meant to be an endorsement of the Republican commission’s policy, but only the legality of the FCC to adopt such media consolidation policies.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski did not endorse the decision. “While the rules being challenged were adopted before I became chairman, I support our general counsel in arguing that the order was within the discretion of the commission and the brief’s general defense of the commission’s authority to make decisions based on the information before it at the time,” said Genachowski.

“The agency is in the middle of the 2010 ownership review,” he continued. “The review requires us to look at any changed facts in the marketplace based on a record which the commission is now assembling.”

Consumer groups were disappointed with the FCC’s petition. Both the Media Access Group and Free Press were critical of the FCC chairman"s stance.

“The consequences of the FCC’s position in this brief could have seriously adverse effects on the diversity of ownership and programming in media,” said Andrew Schwartzman, senior vice president of the Media Access Project.

Free Press Policy Counsel Corie Wright said “we are disappointed that Chairman Genachowski directed the agency to defend a defective NBCO rule that has been widely criticized both for its substance and for the manner in which it was adopted.”

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You are here: Home Page » News » FCC gives mobile DTV an analog tuner waiver

Jul 23, 2010 8:00 AM, By Michael Grotticelli

The FCC has waived a requirement that mobile digital broadcast TV receivers include analog decoding technology.

“As a condition of the waiver, however, we require that responsible parties clearly disclose to consumers that a specific device does not have the capability to receive analog signals, and, where applicable, standard nonmobile digital signals,” the FCC said in its order.

Petitions for the waiver were filed with the FCC by mobile DTV-compliant equipment manufacturers Dell, LG Electronics and Hauppauge Digital. The analog-tuner requirement originated from a 1962 rule requiring all TVs have UHF reception. The rule was amended in 2002 to accommodate the digital TV transition. However, because low-power TV stations and translators continue to broadcast in analog, the analog tuner requirement remained.

The mobile DTV standard, ATSC M/H or A/153, was adopted last October. The manufacturers argued that analog tuners were “inappropriate and unnecessary” for mobile DTV receivers, and the requirement was a “burdensome obligation that would actually diminish the value of these devices to consumers.”

LG said including an analog tuner would mean splitting the input from the reception antenna, diminishing the signal strength by 3dB and in turn, reducing the overall reception area.

The FCC said the waiver covers only TVs capable of receiving ATSC A/153 mobile DTV signals.

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You are here: Home Page » News » Proposed legislation would tax broadcasters who keep their spectrum

Jul 23, 2010 8:00 AM, By Michael Grotticelli

Sen. Jay Rockefeller said the legislation will not require the return of spectrum from existing commercial users, but will instead provide them with “a voluntary opportunity to realize a portion of auction revenues if they wish to facilitate putting spectrum to new and productive uses.”

A spectrum bill authorizing the sharing of spectrum auction proceeds with broadcasters (and others) includes a new annual fee that would tax station owners that choose not to participate. Sens. John Kerry, D-MA, and Olympia Snowe, R-ME, introduced the legislation in Washington, D.C., last week.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-WV, also plans to introduce a similar bill that gives the commission the authority to pay broadcasters to give up some or all of their spectrum for a national wireless broadband plan. However, it was not clear whether or not Rockefeller planned to include a spectrum tax in his bill.

Specifically, the Kerry-Snowe legislation would authorize the U.S. Commerce Department to impose annual fees on the existing spectrum users based “on the fair market commercial value of that spectrum” as determined by the FCC. The tax could end the broadcaster’s free use of spectrum in exchange for providing a public service to viewers — an arrangement that dates back to the beginning of the medium.

The looming reality of a reduced presence for over-the-air stations is not lost on industry trade groups like the National Association of Broadcasters. Faced with potentially exorbitant taxes (a near certainty in larger DMAs), some station owners might consider their shareholders’ best interest and sell their spectrum entirely.

The Kerry-Snowe legislation, called the “Spectrum Measurement and Policy Reform Act,” requires a study on “spectrum occupancy and use.” It also authorizes revenue sharing for licensees who voluntarily relinquish spectrum — as proposed for broadcasters in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan.

“Our nation’s airwaves are finite resources, and we need to use them as efficiently as possible,” said Kerry. “This analysis will help us empower innovation, encourage competition and lower prices for emerging technologies nationwide.”

The bill requires the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to determine not just who’s using what band of spectrum, but how much and for how long. It would also give the Secretary of Commerce the authority to “refuse assigning frequencies to mobile radio or other radio service,” and to collect fees from licensees.

The Rockefeller bill would provide the FCC with the authority to hold incentive auctions.

“This proposal will not require the return of spectrum from existing commercial users, but will instead provide them with a voluntary opportunity to realize a portion of auction revenues if they wish to facilitate putting spectrum to new and productive uses,” Rockefeller said

Also, in a letter last week to Genachowski, Kerry and Snowe called for the FCC to free up unused “white spaces” spectrum because it could help narrow the digital divide.

Arguing the move would “empower manufacturers and consumers to construct multiple paths to the Internet,” the senators said the proposal would help bring the Internet to those who still lack access. “The ‘white spaces’ spectrum provides an opportunity to reach these Americans,” Snowe said.

It asks for the examination of spectrum between “at least 100MHz and 10GHz,” over a diverse geographic region for “an appropriate period of time.” It also asks that future occupancy and usage patterns by existing licensees and government users be predicted, and to correlate those predictions with past usage.

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You are here: Home Page » News » Sprint completes BAS spectrum transition

Jul 23, 2010 8:00 AM

Nucomm supplied WPTV-TV, the NBC affiliate in West Palm Beach, FL, with new digital 2GHz microwave equipment. WPTV is one of 10 Scripps stations that selected Nucomm equipment for its BAS relocation.

The project began before President Obama was elected or there was even the idea of a National Broadband Plan. But over five years, Sprint has freed 35MHz of bandwidth by replacing roughly 100,000 pieces of microwave transmission ENG equipment at more than 1000 stations across the country.

Last week, Sprint announced that it has completed the $750 million transition of 2GHz broadcast auxiliary service (BAS) spectrum begun in 2005. The achievement, said the wireless carrier, establishes a new, more efficient spectrum band plan that clears the way for millions of consumers nationwide to gain faster and cheaper access to broadband services.

“Sprint’s completion of the BAS spectrum transition marks an important step toward President Obama’s goal of freeing 500MHz of additional wireless broadband spectrum,” said Michael B. Degitz, vice president, Spectrum Management for Sprint.

More than 1000 engineers, technicians, tower climbers and laborers worked to replace aging microwave and electronic newsgathering equipment with new equipment that is capable of operating more efficiently while using less spectrum. Key equipment suppliers included Microwave Service Company, Nucomm and RF Central (all part of the RF Extreme division within The Vitec Group), whose digital microwave transmitters and recievers now operate within a new frequency band to allow stations to gather and air live breaking news.

Sprint notified the FCC of the BAS project’s completion in a regulatory filing on July 15, when it completed the Anchorage, AK, designated market area. Anchorage was the last of 213 markets to be transitioned.

Sprint began the BAS spectrum transition project following the 2004 FCC decision to implement a plan to resolve ongoing interference between public safety and commercial operations in the 800MHz band. Sprint’s financial and spectrum contributions to the FCC’s 800MHz Reconfiguration Plan included retuning BAS incumbents to a new, more efficient band plan, thus clearing the 1990MHz-1995MHz spectrum block for Sprint and the 1995MHz-2025MHz block for mobile satellite and future broadband services.

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