Video Distribution Needs More C-Band, Not Less, Comcast Says

Comcast expressed concern about plans to clear a portion of the C-band for terrestrial wireless use. High-bandwidth video technologies like 4K are pushing the need for more C-band capacity for video distribution, not less, Comcast officials told an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, according to a docket 17-183 filing posted Friday. It said FCC decisions to reallocate the C-band shouldn't bind deployment decisions that limit technologies like HD and Ultra-HD. Any NPRM on repacking C-band video distribution services into less spectrum should address the effects on video transmission, Comcast said. Those effects range from increased channel occupancy and power spectral density, which could raise risk of adjacent satellite interference at earth stations, to more instances of multiple carriers sharing a single transponder, increasing risk of intermodulation interference, it said. Comcast said it uses "hundreds" of C-band earth stations around the country and about 80 percent of its video programming comes to it via C-band satellites. It said its “head-end in the sky” service distributes programming to small and midsize MVPD headends in rural areas via C-band. An NPRM on the Intel/Intelsat/SES plan for clearing a portion of the C-band is expected this summer (see 1804200003).