Sprint Nextel Emptying 2 GHz for MSS, Officials Report
Sprint Nextel is now about 6 months into the Bcst. Auxiliary Service (BAS) relocation process, and officials gave a progress report at the MSTV conference Wed. The firm is charged with relocating electronic newsgathering (ENG) services in order to clear out the 2 GHz swath of the S-band for awaiting Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) operators as part of the FCC’s omnibus 800 MHz order -- which adds up to 1,051 BAS, LTSS and CARS licensees for Sprint Nextel to reequip in 31.5 months. Panelists called it “the other digital transition.” It doesn’t get the coverage the DTV transition gets, said moderator Matthew DelNero, an attorney working on the project: “But it could be similarly mammoth.”
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
A total of 461 of the 1,051 stations are currently “engaged” in the relocation process in one way or another, Sprint Nextel Vp-Spectrum Development Michael Degitz said: “We're doing each market as a whole, and we're organizing the DMAs into clusters.” A total of 76 markets have begun the 4-step transition process, Degitz said. Of those markets, 30 are in the process of taking an inventory of their own equipment, 40 are having that equipment inventory verified by Sprint Nextel, 6 are in discussions with Sprint Nextel about quotes for new equipment costs, and one has signed an agreement, he said. “The real steep learning curve right now is in the equipment quote package process,” Degitz said: “We're working out the kinks… We're replacing 20 years of equipment in 2.5 years.”
Awaiting 2 GHz MSS entrants TMI/TerreStar have told the FCC they're concerned Sprint Nextel won’t have the job done in time for their 2007 launch milestone (CD May 12 p5). “Sprint Nextel has a lot of experience with relocations, and we fully expect to complete on time,” said Degitz: “But MSS has the right to jump in whenever they want and get involved.” It’s “sometimes forgotten” that MSS has a role under the current transition structure, and could come in to relocate BAS operators early, said DelNero. TMI/TerreStar told the FCC in May it could initiate its own band clearance activities as early as 2006. Broadcasters need to help ensure the process doesn’t lag, said panelist Craig Strom from WLS-TV, Chicago: “Because the alternatives are much less pretty.”
Early digital ENG adopter WLS-TV already has 7 live trucks, 9 receive sites and a helicopter equipped with digital ENG hardware -- but none of it will work post-BAS transition, said the station’s Dir.-Engineering, Craig Strom. “We're in the process of getting quotes back from manufacturers,” said Strom, who also said the “timing of the frequency relocation agreements is in the hands of the attorneys.” Strom said digital ENG isn’t better or worse than analog -- “it’s just different.” But training on the new digital equipment will be a “big, big issue” for ENG operators because “the operators who have been doing this for 30 years have become experts at reading the tea leaves of how an analog picture is failing,” Strom said: “This will be an entirely different experience because you can’t feel it anymore -- you've gotta go by the numbers.”
ENG equipment manufacturers will have to “ramp up pretty quickly,” said Daniel McIntyre, vp, Microwave Radio Communications Bcstg. Systems: “And if we're not careful, manufacturers will fall off a cliff because business will drop” after the transition. McIntyre called the transition “a windfall,” but said: “In the end, it’s good for broadcasters because this will help them to standardize equipment, which is a tremendous advantage.” - - Adrianne Kroepsch