Former senator Gordon Smith changes channel on TV’s woes

Former Sen. Gordon Smith’s background is more rooted in agriculture than technology. His family owns Smith Frozen Foods, and his father served as an assistant secretary of agriculture during the Eisenhower years. But after representing Oregon in the Senate for two terms, Smith, 59, is now the point man for the broadcast industry as president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters — just as television is in the fight of its life.

“My biggest surprise,” Smith said, after 18 months on the job, “is the magnitude of the issues coming at us. They are all game-changers.” Smith now carries an iPhone, but he still talks like an agriculture committee member. “Right now,” he said, “we’re in a fight over the seed corn.” The seed corn includes arguments that the broadcasting industry is too old and slow and hogs too much spectrum — an “I Love Lucy” in the era of YouTube. The wireless industry has been pushing the FCC and lawmakers to encourage broadcasters to voluntarily vacate some of the valuable airwaves they currently license so that more spectrum can serve the growing demand for mobile broadband services. The interest in mobile broadband is being fueled by the dramatic growth in smartphones that are capable of being a phone, computer and video player all in one. Smith, however, argues that the push for wireless broadband doesn't supersede the continuing need for free local TV. “The broadcasting signal happens to be unique and irreplaceable because it is local and it is free,” Smith said. “What wireless broadband wants to do is take what is free and have others pay a fee.”