NAB/CEA Urge FCC to Create Spectrum Coordination Task Force

The incentive auctions continue to breed unusual alliances.

First there was the National Association of Broadcasters and wireless companies teaming on a band plan, and now the National Association of Broadcasters and the Consumer Electronics Association, which have battled over the relative value of spectrum in the hands of broadcasters and those wireless companies, have joined to ask the Federal Communications Commission to create a working group on international coordination.

The US will have to coordinate the repacking of TV stations after the auction with Canada and Mexico to avoid border interference issues. Broadcasters have been pushing the commission to resolve those issues before the auctions. "We are pleased that the Commission has recently reached out to Canada to begin this [coordination] process," they wrote in a letter to acting FCC Chair Mignon Clyburn. "We believe that the Commission can go one step further, however, and immediately create a joint working group consisting of public and private officials to expedite this critical process."