Post-auction coverage still concerns public TV broadcasters

Public broadcasters continue to press the Federal Communications Commission to ensure that the upcoming repacking of spectrum does not create “white areas” where over-the-air viewers would lose access to public television. The FCC is planning a voluntary broadcast spectrum auction, set for mid-2016, to sell bandwidth to cellular companies for use by mobile devices.

Television station executives must decide whether to opt out of the auction, sell off all or part of their spectrum, or move their signals to lesser-quality VHF channels. Public television representatives, led by Lonna Thompson of the Association of Public Television Stations, met with FCC officials May 26. Non-commercial executives told FCC staffers that repacking the spectrum following the auction could create “unprecedented” holes in public TV signal coverage, according to a filing by APTS. The public broadcasters noted that over-the-air television is used by almost 20 percent of the population, and possibly up to 30 percent of underserved minority populations, in several major markets.