Channel Sharing Called Viable After Sharing Pilot

The auction creates the opportunity to give up spectrum, as opposed to “having the FCC mandatorily assign it,” said Edmund Driggs, APTS-lay vice chairman and lay trustee of WTVI (PBS) Charlotte, N.C., in an interview, calling it a “release valve.” Every station will be repacked in the process, but the commission can identify which stations are more willing to channel share or go dark, he said. “Problems arise in the biggest markets when there isn’t enough space. That’s why the FCC is offering incentives.”

Maryland Public Television will look at all of its options, said MPT CEO Larry Unger in an interview. “Our mission isn’t to make money, it’s to provide services to the citizens of Maryland. Almost all of the options would diminish our ability to deliver those services.” Unger called channel sharing “getting married and even death doesn’t get you out.” A partner could transmit programs MPT doesn’t want, he said: “I just don’t know how that works.” It’s difficult for stations to find partners to share channels, he said. With six licenses, MPT would have to find six different partners, he said. “Not many public TV stations are considering the channel sharing option,” Driggs agreed. Moving to VHF isn’t a good option for MPT because the station could “reach some new people but not the people we reached before,” Unger said. Moving from UHF to VHF isn’t a good option for all stations because it doesn’t provide good service for mobile communication, said APTS CEO Patrick Butler in an interview.

But channel sharing can be a viable option for public TV, said Alan Popkin, director of TV engineering for KLCS Los Angeles, who worked on a channel sharing pilot last year with KJLA Ventura financed by CTIA. “Five years ago, the technology didn’t exist," said Popkin in an interview. "We found with PSIP [program and system information protocol], TV sets could parse out two separate major channels and minor channels.” KLCS will enter the auction with KCET in a channel sharing agreement, he said. Popkin said commercial networks like CBS and Fox recently made statements about channel sharing (see 1502090053): “It depends if you’re willing to replicate what you do now with a partner or what do you need to change to make it work.” And some public broadcasters have said they won't pursue channel sharing (see 1409160020). Dynamic sharing and commingled use of spectrum is possible now, Butler said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a lot of [stations] take that option in the auction.” Not all stations have the latest compression technology, which is expensive, he said.

APTS lobbied Congress to increase the commission’s repacking fund from $1 billion to $1.75 billion, said Lonna Thompson, APTS general counsel in a board meeting. The association convinced Congress to pass a law to offer public TV 90 percent upfront payment for repacking costs, Butler said. “Nobody is sure that’ll be enough money for all the TV stations to accomplish this transition as being required by the spectrum auction. It’s important for us as public TV stations to be first in line for this money and to have most of our costs covered in advance by the FCC fund. We’re making real bipartisan progress in Congress.”

Board members said younger Capitol Hill staffers grew up on PBS programming, so they know the importance of PBS for their children. “It’s not the easiest thing in the world to ask Congress for $40 million in these circumstances,” Butler said. “We should be very confident marching up to Congress Tuesday when we make a request for CPB [Corporation for Public Broadcasting] funding and interconnection funding.” Tuesday, APTS members and summit attendees will meet with legislators to request funding for public TV. Seventy-one percent of the CPB fund goes to public TV and radio stations, he said. The interconnection fund, which is replenished every 10 years, pays to update stations with newer technology to ensure public TV keeps providing the universal service it’s statutorily required to, Butler said. Stations use satellite systems, and the new system will be more Internet based, with satellite backup, he said.

APTS is working to keep the same or similar population contours for stations after the repacking process and to protect station translators, Thompson said. “We want to make sure the repacking plan isn’t nationwide as first proposed, but near nationwide” to keep rural stations from being repacked, she said. Translators aren’t protected under the law and APTS members have 800 translators across the country, she said. Many stations in places like Montana, upstate New York and Wyoming rely heavily on translators to reach consumers, Butler said. “We convinced the FCC that until and unless wireless providers actually need this spectrum space where the translators are, they can continue to operate.”