NAB, MSTV Continue Fight Against Unlicensed Devices

NAB and the Association for Maximum Service Television are continuing their efforts to educate regulators about the damage to over-the-air TV broadcasting from unlicensed devices sharing broadcast spectrum.

In a letter to all 535 members of Congress, NAB President David Rehr and David Donovan, who heads up MSTV said, “the broadcast industry has spent upwards of $5 billion upgrading their facilities from analog to digital, which does not include the millions of dollars that are being spent to educate consumers about the transition. With these extraordinary public and private resources invested in the DTV transition over the past two decades, it would be a monumental mistake to allow portable unlicensed devices into the broadcast spectrum before the transition was allowed to flourish and succeed.”

The letter references the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology report on DTV receiver interference capabilities and comments from MSTV and NAB on the report, explaining that when analyzed, “the FCC data indicates that digital television sets will be susceptible to interference from these devices in 80 to 87 percent of a typical television station’s service area.” A footnote says NAB and MSTV are not opposed to fixed rural broadband services using broadcast spectrum after the DTV transition, noting that with proper spectrum planning these services can be offered without interfering with digital TV sets.