Some CEA Members Ambivalent on CEA-Funded Spectrum Analysis
Some CEA members that make TV sets were not happy with the trade association’s submission last week to the FCC of an economic analysis that concluded TV broadcasters’ spectrum would be far more valuable if used for wireless broadband (CD Oct 27 p1), two CE industry sources said. CEA members got a preview of the analysis before it reached the commission, and some told the group they had problems with it, they said. CEA’s members all understand the bigger picture addressed by the filing, said Brian Markwalter, CEA vice president of technology and standards. “We're a member-driven organization,” said Jamie Hedlund, vice president of regulatory affairs. “Membership supported the filing we made.”
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CEA is also supporting broadcaster efforts to develop a mobile DTV service and is working with the Advanced TV Systems Committee on that process, Markwalter said. “But our filing in this case really sits at a higher level,” he said. “We understand that there will be a long dialogue.” CEA said in it’s filing it didn’t necessarily support the conclusions reached by the analysis it paid economist Coleman Bazelon to perform.
CEA isn’t advocating for any specific reallocation or band plan, Hedlund said. “Our primary goal was to quantify for the commission the economic need for more spectrum to be allocated for wireless broadband. It was not to advocate for a specific service plan.” Still, looking at the TV band, it’s easy to see inefficiencies, he said. “There’s 300 MHz of broadcaster spectrum that’s used to serve 9 percent of the country and that is just a huge inefficiency that the commission cannot overlook as it considers potential sources of spectrum for wireless broadband.”
“CEA members feel the Congress needs to inventory all the uses of spectrum so that government uses can be studied and looked at, just as the broadcast and other private spectrum are being studied and looked at,” another CE industry source said. CEA urged the FCC to inventory government spectrum even in the absence of a formal congressional mandate.
The Bazelon study was meant to facilitate discussion about the need for more spectrum, said Markwalter. Any discussion of reallocating TV spectrum would also have to contemplate unlicensed use in that band such as the TV white spaces, an issue not addressed in the recent CEA filing, Hedlund said. “What this filing does among other things is it submits an economic analysis of a swath of the spectrum, and suggests that the commission look at that spectrum and other spectrum to see whether it is being efficiently used.”