NAB Urges FCC to Allow Using TV White Spaces for ATSC 3.0 Transition

New America Open Technology Institute opposition to allowing TV white spaces to be used for the ATSC 3.0 transition runs counter to its previous position that consumers should be protected during the transition, NAB said in a meeting Tuesday with the FCC Media Bureau and Incentive Auction Task Force, per a filing Thursday in docket 16-142. OTI opposed the 3.0 order on the basis of consumer protection but now opposes allowing broadcasters to use TV white spaces to maintain service during the transition, NAB said. OTI has “lost track of its own positions,” NAB said, comparing the advocacy group with Moby Dick’s doomed antagonist Captain Ahab. OTI also acts as though the FCC never sought comment on the use of the white spaces for 3.0 before Sinclair-owned One Media lobbied on the issue, NAB said. “OTI was aware of this at one point, because it joined comments addressing this issue.” The FCC should allow the white spaces to be used for the 3.0 transition, NAB said. "We obviously know the FCC asked a question about it, but the proposal we oppose was initiated by Sinclair’s OneMedia," emailed Michael Calabrese, New America Wireless Future Program director. "Awarding broadcast licensees free, exclusive access to vacant TV channels would violate the Communications Act," impose costs on wireless mic users, and "derail" efforts to expand broadband to rural areas, Calabrese said. Letting broadcasters use the white spaces would "subsidize the broadcasters’ ambition to compete with mobile carriers who, unlike broadcast licensees, paid for their spectrum at auction.”