C-Band Occasional Users Worry Clearing An Existential Threat

Satellite news truck companies worry the pending C-band partial clearing could mean the end of their industry, since the lost spectrum is a necessary and irreplaceable resource. Satellite C-band providers say those occasional user worries are misplaced. Operators say their post-clearing plans leave enough spectrum to maintain service at least for the near term.

Coverage at sports venues is limited to one or two C-band channels because of terrestrial microwave interference, and the partial clearing will take away a lot of that inventory to the point where there won't be C-band availability at all, Live Mobile Group Vice President-Transmission/West Coast Sales Bob Adler told us. Compounding the problem, satellite newsgathering (SNG) operations that don't have licenses for their receive-only earth station also aren't in line for compensation, he said.

C band is largely irreplaceable spectrum, with Ku not having nearly as efficient band characteristics and there not being any easily obvious fixes, said PSSI Global Services CEO Rob Lamb. Fiber transmission "is very good," but not quite on par with C band in some situations, he said. He said SNGs will employ fiber, the Ku band and IP transmission as much as possible but it's inevitable there will be situations where those aren't available or rain fade makes Ku use not viable and "you have to live with the consequences" of not having transmission. PSSI is seeking a stay of the C-band order pending judicial review (see 2006190058) and is among the plaintiffs challenging the order before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 2005050047).

PSSI's belief transponder capacity will be decreased or axed for occasional use (OU) services "is mistaken," Intelsat said in a docket 18-122 posting Friday. It said its transition plan allocates capacity equal to the forecasted peak of OU demand, determined by talks with customers. The satellite operator said claims passband filters aren't available to transportable earth stations are inaccurate and it has been talking with filter manufacturers to be sure earth station filters to block the lower 300 MHz of the band post-transition will be available for fixed and mobile earth stations. The company said a passband filter won't completely counteract effects of a 5G base station operating next to a transportable earth station, but OU operators surely will set up in locations where they can eliminate that interference risk.

Also opposing the stay, SES said PSSI is "demonstrat[ing] that its business is dying, which is a hard but inescapable reality that was not caused -- and cannot be fixed -- by any stay." SES said C-band operators will have enough capacity for the modest OU community needs until that community no longer uses the swath at all in the near future. OU declines are due to market forces, not the order, and the transition "poses no threat to the OU market," it said.

The agency won't authorize additional registrations for occasional use of mobile earth stations during the band's repurposing, saying it might consider "other methods of responding to temporary, targeted spectral needs on a negotiated, non-interfering basis," such as via special temporary authority. It and NAB didn't comment Friday.

Clearing comes atop increasing hardships for the SNG industry, such as increased transmission of video over the internet, said Live Mobile's Adler. He more venues have broadband capacity enough to use encoder devices and move sports content without satellite. Satellite trucks now go "for a dime a dozen, for under $25,000," as the SNG industry withers, he said: Losing a lot of that spectrum means "you further damage this industry. Time marches on; it is what it is."

PSSI has been active in the proceeding, but others haven't. "I don't understand why people aren't more up in arms about it, especially our customers," Lamb said. The satellite truck industry, struggling with business issues and now evaporation of live sports during the pandemic, is hard-pressed to dedicate resources on what's perceived as a losing battle, said Adler. Lamb said the FCC has been receptive to SNG arguments but “didn't have any answers.”

In a call with FCC Wireless and Media Bureau staff, Intelsat representatives argued video compression decisions are made at the transponder level, involving programmers with compression. The company said the compression technology choice needs to be made by the content originators so they have uniform tech throughout their distribution system. It said MVPDs ordering integrated receiver/decoders site by site or system by system won't have a coherent distribution network.