TV Stations in Los Angeles to Share a Channel to Free Up Spectrum

Two broadcast television stations in Los Angeles will become the first participants in a pilot test of the government’s plans to eventually free up and auction off more airwaves for use in wireless broadband.

KLCS, a public broadcaster, and KJLA, a small multilingual programmer, will participate in a channel-sharing experiment that is being devised with the trade association for wireless phone carriers. The wireless companies are eager to get broadcasters to give up airwaves so they can buy them and use them for high-speed wireless Internet connections. The experiment is intended to show the extent to which broadcast channels can be squeezed together on the electromagnetic spectrum without degrading the quality of their signals. If the experiment goes as planned, no changes will be visible to consumers, who will continue to tune in to the same channels on their television sets. But the eventual result could be quite significant for consumers -- less wireless phone congestion and better connections for smartphones to fast wireless Internet service.

Government officials, though not involved in this trial, are likely to be watching the results closely. If successful, the trial will go a long way toward proving the viability of the plans of the Federal Communications Commission for what it calls an incentive auction of airwaves. In those auctions, television stations that give up some or all of their space on the broadcast spectrum will receive money from the auction sales.