FCC Shouldn't Grant Vacant Spectrum Channels to Broadcasters, Say CR and OTI

The FCC shouldn’t let broadcasters use vacant spectrum channels for the ATSC 3.0 transition, said Consumer Reports and the Open Technology Institute at New America in a meeting last week with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, recounted a filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-142. Doing so would harm the public interest and prevent TV white spaces from being used “to bridge the digital divide,” the groups said. Comparing the use of vacant channels to “doubling a station’s free spectrum assignment,” the groups said letting broadcasters use the spectrum isn’t needed to protect consumers, even if it would help broadcasters. The FCC should instead adopt a further notice to allow the use of location data to determine what sort of interference protections are needed to protect WMTS operations on channel 37, the filing said.