Broadcasting Service Coalition to FCC: Hands Off Our Spectrum

Banding together as the Broadcasting Service Coalition, Sinclair, Nexstar, New Age Media, MPS Media and Manship Media, have told the Federal Communications Commission to keep its hands off their spectrum band. They argue that reallocating any of the broadcast band to wireless broadband would be "terrible public policy" based on "erroneous assumptions." They say broadcasters are efficient spectrum users and could do more to innovate if the FCC loosened its rules to allow them to better respond to market changes. "Broadcasters can and will provide even better service if and when the FCC permits them to do so," the group argues. "At bottom, the reclamation proponent's proposals are anti-competitive and intended to make consumers pay for many of the services they now get for the most advantageous price: free." A number of broadcasters argue that the wireless industry is trying to nip mobile broadband in the bud because its point-to-many-points model of distribution is a threat to wireless' mobile service.