MUNICH and RIO DE JANEIRO—Brazilian television broadcaster TV Globo has chosen Rohde & Schwarz to supply the first commercial transmitters for Brazil’s DTV+ next-generation television service.

The strategic partnership marks a turning point for free-to-air television in Brazil. Rohde & Schwarz will deliver transmitters that are specifically developed to meet the requirements of DTV+ technology, providing a future-proof, high-performance platform for the next generation of broadcasting.

Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva signed a decrees in August 2025 adopting the ATSC 3.0 physical layer for its DTV+ (formerly called TV 3.0) television system.

DTV+ promises a new viewing experience with very high picture quality in 4K and up to 8K in the future. A key differentiator of DTV+ is its app-centric approach, seamlessly integrating over-the-air TV with broadband connectivity to enhance the smart TV experience.

Through the DTV+ App/Globo App, viewers will enjoy a unified experience regardless of the source of the content and will also benefit from advanced features, such as targeted advertising and integrated shopping that can be controlled via the remote. Furthermore, improved spectrum efficiency will ensure broader and more flexible coverage.

“Rohde & Schwarz is proud to support Globo in launching this groundbreaking technology,” said Steven Edwards, vice president of Broadcast Distribution at Rohde & Schwarz. “Our transmitters are the result of intensive research and development – leveraging our unique software defined exciter technology to deliver higher performance and an improved feature set – and will help combine the benefits of terrestrial broadcasting and the digital world.”

The agreement was finalized at the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) 2025 in Amsterdam. The transmitters are scheduled to be installed in time for the 2026 Soccer World Cup, with deliveries beginning initially in the metropolitan regions of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

By using the higher part of the VHF Band III frequency, this project ensures a smooth transition to DTV+ without interrupting current broadcasts. This marks the world’s first deployment of this frequency spectrum for television applications. The project includes advanced technologies, such as MIMO transmission, which significantly increases the transmitted data rate and signal quality, as well as geographical segmentation.

“DTV+ represents an important step for Brazilian television,” said Raymundo Barros, technology director at Globo. “The innovative technologies associated with it will redefine the television experience for millions of viewers in Brazil. The transmitters from Rohde & Schwarz play a key role in the development of this system.”

More information is available on the company’s website.

CHANTILLY, Va.—SpectraRep, a provider of  datacasting services for more than 20 years, in concert with Sinclair/ONE Media says it completed a successful NextGen Broadcast pilot of its IncidentOne datacasting solution for D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management and six other federal and local public safety agencies. This application delivered sophisticated emergency communications through improved video, alert, and file sharing among multiple public safety agencies during the 2022 July 4th celebrations in Washington, D.C. on the National Mall using the advanced spectrum platform capabilities enabled by the NextGen Broadcast standard.  

Based on the NextGen Broadcast standard, IncidentOne layered a new secure wireless network on top of existing communication procedures to facilitate inter-agency sharing of data at unprecedented levels. Employing the NextGen Broadcast facilities of Sinclair Broadcast Group’s station WIAV and partnering with America’s Public Television Stations and the Advanced Television Systems Committee, the pilot program was a significant demonstration of the new capabilities of the Internet Protocol-based standard that dramatically improves television transmission, SpectraRep said.

IncidentOne is an existing enterprise-grade wireless emergency communications solution that uses over-the-air digital television (DTV) technology to deliver operational and crisis incident data quickly and securely. 

While IncidentOne has been used in the past to datacast public safety information via DTV airwaves, SpectraRep says datacasting with the new and efficient NextGen Broadcast standard supports a more robust transmission signal, higher data capacity, and, for the first time, mobile reception.

“SpectraRep and our partners are extremely pleased that the datacasting pilot supported by ATSC 3.0—NextGen Broadcasting—provided an enhanced ability to protect the public with more bandwidth and reliable mobile reception around data sharing,” said Mark O’Brien, President of SpectraRep. “As shown during the pilot, our datacasting solution helps first responders identify potential threats and disseminate emergency response information more quickly and efficiently than ever before possible. It remains our goal to increase the ability of emergency responders to have what they need to protect lives.”

O’Brien also noted that the NextGen Broadcast signal provided flexibility for optimizing data capacity and signal reception in both indoor and mobile facilities, which is key to fully supporting public safety professionals in the field. He added that large-scale events typically overload cellular systems, making it difficult for public safety departments to communicate and exchange critical data.

Mark Aitken, president of Sinclair’s technology subsidiary, ONE Media 3.0, added, “The advanced datacasting capabilities using the NextGen Broadcast standard is exactly the type of service that broadcasters around the country can provide and is a unique example of why accelerated deployment of these capabilities is so critical. NextGen can save lives.”

NAB EVP, Technology/CTO Sam Matheny said "this live datacasting pilot spotlights the unique and valuable opportunities made possible by the ATSC 3.0 standard, especially when it comes to public safety. This successful program can provide a blueprint for federal, state and local first responders to strengthen their emergency communications capabilities and reliably share lifesaving information during times of disaster. 

"NAB thanks the agencies and technology partners that participated in this project, as broadcasters continue to leverage ATSC 3.0 features to best serve the American people."   

This article was updated to add NAB's statement. 

Confirming the success of the pilot program is DC Statewide Interoperability Coordinator (SWIC), Charles Guddemi, who reported, “We observed success with streaming encrypted video over the datacast signal, and then could successfully target and send that video to other agencies. We also confirmed the ability to send alerts and files to the authorized participating agencies.”

Top successful outcomes from the pilot program include:

• Safe and secure inter-agency sharing of video, messages, and files was achieved using SpectraRep’s IncidentOne datacasting solution.
• Select agencies transmitted secure alert messages that also included attached files.
• SpectraRep’s datacasting solution reached command staff and decision makers across agencies without requiring access to or interconnection between individual agency secure networks.
• SpectraRep’s mobile phone video application provided access to handheld video sourced from agency personnel in the field to operations centers.

Technology partners in the pilot program include DigiCAP Ltd., West Pond Technologies, Sinclair Broadcast Group (WIAV) and their technology group ONE Media 3.0, E/M Wave, Winegard, Osprey Video and SpectraRep LLC. Key Association partners include APTS America’s Public Television Stations, ATSC, and the National Association of Broadcasters.

SpectraRep's partnership with APTS, in particular, stretches back nearly 20 years when it announced in 2003 it was working with the association to deliver public safety information via DTV airwaves. 

A case study for the pilot program is available on the SpectraRep website. Click here to download.

SOUTHWICK, Mass.—Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark has announced that the WGBH has upgraded it VHF Band 1 Parallax liquid cooled DTV transmitter for up to 47.8kW of power.

Comark supplied the Parallax transmitter on channel D5 to public media producer GBH as part of the FCC repack. 

This transmitter system was purchased in 2018 as upgradable to allow for future power increases and initially delivered as a three-cabinet system with four power amplifiers (PA’s) per cabinet (12 total) for operation at 6.2kW transmitter output power (TPO).  

After a few years, GBH applied for and received authorization from the FCC to increase the station’s ERP from 6.7kW to 34kW to better serve their community of license. 

GBH then ordered the system upgrade package from Comark that included 24 additional amplifiers and the associated materials, providing TPO capability of up to 47.8kW.  The new configuration of the GBH transmitter now uses 12 PA’s per cabinet or 36 PA’s total. 

“When we originally ordered the Comark Parallax transmitter, our FCC engineering consultant informed us that there was a strong possibility we could be granted a future increase in effective radiated power up to 50Kw,” said GBH transmitter supervisor Jon Frank in a statement. “However, we had no idea precisely what that increased power figure would be. As result, we purchased the upgradeable cabinet option with our original transmitter.  When we were granted a 34 Kw ERP, Comark's modular transmitter design allowed us to easily increase the transmitter’s power output in the field and to purchase only as many amplifier modules and combiners as we required.”

“Planning is the key. We had a lot of very detailed customer discussions during the initial phases of this system,” explained Joe Turbolski, VP of sales and marketing at Comark. “GBH had a long-term plan for their post repack D5 allocation for this transmitter system.  With Parallax, we were able to offer both the technology and the architecture that GBH required to make this project successful.” 

WASHINGTON—The Land Mobile Communications Council (LMCC) and the FCC met on Oct. 22 to initiate discussions on what LMCC describes as “multiple incidents” of co-channel and adjacent channel interference to land mobile systems from newly authorized digital TV stations that came about as a result of the TV repack, agreeing to begin identifying potential solutions.

According to an LMCC filing to the FCC from August, there have been multiple instances of new DTV stations causing harmful interference to Part 90 private land mobile radio stations (PLMR), rendering the stations “entirely unusable.” Private land mobile radio systems are used by companies, local governments, and other organizations to meet a wide range of communication requirements, including coordination of people and materials, important safety and security needs, and quick response in times of emergency. 

LMCC says that such instances have occurred in Dallas, Houston, New York, Chicago and San Francisco, among others. 

 The two-year repack, which wrapped up in July  forced nearly 1,000 U.S. TV stations  to relocate their channel allocations as a result of the 2017 spectrum auction. This has caused two types of interference, according to LMCC: Co-channel interference from DTV stations operating in the 470-512 MHz band that had previously been allocated for PLMR use in major markets; then there is adjacent channel interference from DTV stations on Channel 14 impacting PLMRs operating in the UHF band below 470 MHz. 

“The interference with what had been reliable communications endangers the safety of employees, disrupts operations at affected facilities and poses a major threat to public safety in certain instances,” the LMCC told the FCC.

As a result of its meeting with the FCC, LMCC is forming a Working Group that will collaborate with the FCC in identifying potential solutions. 

LMCC President Klaus Bender says that some of these interference issues may be resolved by enforcing existing rules, but acknowledges that some will be more difficult because of the lack of spectrum alternatives for both land mobile and DTV licensees. However, he described the collaborative effort with the FCC as “a good start.” 

WASHINGTON—Several groups representing users of private land mobile radio (PLMR) systems are urging the FCC to enforce rules that prevent interference from TV stations that recently moved their transmission facilities during the three year-channel repack that recently concluded.

In a letter to the FCC, the Land Mobile Communications Council asked the commission to take action against numerous instances of radio interference from stations that moved to new channels as a result of the 2017 spectrum auctions that transferred portions of broadcasters’ 600 MHz spectrum mostly to wireless carriers seeking to upgrade to 5G. 

These PLMR facilities have been in operation for decades and provide essential fleet dispatch communications for a broad range of business and governmental users, including hospitals, school buses, roadside assistance, highway maintenance, refining, petrochemical production, high voltage electrical repair and firefighting.

Interference issues between the two systems is nothing new. In the mid-2000s, the FCC had to intervene when reports of garage door openers were also interfering with PLMR systems. Those situations and others like that, the LMCC said, were temporary and usually fixed in a reasonable time period and didn’t have the same impact. 

“This interference is so strong that it takes the PLMR systems off the air and is occurring for many hours several days a week or even multiple consecutive days,” the LMCC told the FCC.

LMCC says the situation represents a threat to public safety and to the loss of business. 

“This interference has rendered affected PLMR facilities entirely unusable in certain markets, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars of lost revenue as customers of commercial systems are forced to search for alternative communication options and incurred expenses as licensees have sought remedial action by the broadcasters and/or acquired other spectrum to which their operations could be moved,” the LMCC said. “The interference with what had been reliable communications endangers the safety of employees, disrupts operations at affected facilities and poses a major threat to public safety in certain instances. The urgency of the problems demand FCC action to enforce those regulations and policies as promptly as possible and to avoid the creation of similar problems in the future.”

LMCC said it assumed that the stations causing the interference are ones that recently moved due to the repack and as such, are obligated to resolve the interference issue.

PLUS: Repack Crosses the Finish Line

“In such cases, the FCC has relied on its long-standing ‘newcomer’ policy pursuant to which new licensees are responsible for resolving interference caused by their operations even if all parties are operating in accordance with the rules and the terms of their authorizations,” it told the commission. “In this instance, it is vital that the newcomer DTV stations assume this obligation because there are no anti-interference solutions available to the PLMR licensees.”

Citing rules that require TV stations to identify potential interference before construction, the LMCC said the issue can be easily resolved if the FCC enforces those rules. 

“A number of new permittees have been diligent both in identifying potentially affected PLMR systems and, more importantly, in implementing the necessary filtering to avoid causing interference,” LMCC said. “Their success makes clear that those facilities can co-exist when appropriate interference mitigation measures are taken by the DTV station.”

The Enterprise Wireless Association echoed LMCC’s concerns and calls for action. 

“Some EWA members are so frustrated that they wonder if the reaction of a few TV stations might be ‘There is nothing we can do; the environment is the root cause; we didn’t want to move in the first place; or, maybe the PLMR incumbents will go away in time and leave us alone,’” said EWA President Mark Crosby. “Of course, these are unacceptable responses as the PLMR industry is as vital to the well-being of this country as are broadcasters, even if not as well known. The LMCC seeks only a fair hearing and the FCC’s active support towards a resolution. That should not be wishful thinking. EWA remains optimistic.”

The LMCC’s report citing specific interference cases is available here. 

Stand 14.D10, IBC 2019, RAI, Amsterdam: Intinor Technology, Sweden’s leading developer of products and solutions for high quality video over IP networks, will launch a newly combined router panel and video mixer for the highly portable Direkt link remote production backpack at IBC 2019.

Intinor’s Direkt router is used by major broadcast and production companies for video switching and mixing on the fly, and with the new router panel and video mixer combination the unit can provide GFX-overlays and PiP.

Direkt link can send video streams to multiple receivers, including Intinor’s own receivers, designed primarily for cable TV or channel control rooms; streaming servers for web TV; DTV boxes for OTT; PCs running VLC; and receivers from other manufactures.

Intinor CEO Roland Axelsson said, “The flexibility and versatility of our Direkt link range just become even more so with our new router panel and video mixer integration, and we are delighted to featuring it at Europe’s premiere broadcast technology showcase.”

The new Direkt link backpack system configuration can be adjusted using the new router display and keypad, or from a web-interface. The interface provides the ability to build profiles and adjust parameters for each broadcast location. Those profiles can contain and retain information on the network, content destination, and video-quality. The Direkt link system can store a broadcast on a USB stick for later use in on-demand or other video applications.

The unit will also have a new NDI input, which further expands Intinor’s collaboration with NewTek and other leading NDI developers.

At IBC, Intinor will also introduce ‘Direkt link tower’, a computer chassis that includes the powerful Direkt link encoder. The tower is pre-configured to esports-mode, Intinor's performance level 6 (x264 preset “SLOW”). This is the same encoding performance that is used worldwide for major esports tournaments like DreamHack, Blast Pro Series, PGL, Gfinity and many more.

For more information, visit www.intinor.com

###

About Intinor
Intinor develops its own products and comprehensive solutions for high quality video over IP networks. With solutions for contribution, as well as for distribution and web TV, Intinor has customers ranging from small production to major television channels. Intinor also work as consultants with product development and has extensive experience in developing custom-designed systems to meet specific needs. For more information, visit www.intinor.com

Company Contact:
Daniel Lundstedt, Marketing Coordinator
+46 (0) 90-349 39 07
+46 (0) 70-148 46 68
daniel.lundstedt@intinor.se

Media Contact:
Jennie Marwick-Evans
Manor Marketing
jennie@manormarketing.tv
+44 (0) 7748 636171

On August 7, 2018 the television industry saw the passing of a true technology icon, Dr. Joseph A. Flaherty. Television viewers around the globe are still benefiting from the technology innovations of Joe Flaherty.

Dr. Flaherty received his degree in Physics from Rockhurst College, Kansas, City, Missouri, in 1952. During 1953-1954, he served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and in 1955 joined NBC in New York City as a Television Engineer.

In 1957, he joined CBS as a Television Design Engineer. In 1959, he became the Network's Director of Technical Facilities Planning, and in 1967, he was promoted to General Manager, and subsequently appointed Vice President and General Manager of the Engineering and Development Department, a position he held for 23 years, and then CBS Senior Vice President of Technology.

In the 1970’s, Joe revolutionized the television news industry by changing the process by which news stories were captured. His foresight led to the replacement of 16 mm film to gather news, supplanting it with Electronic News Gathering (ENG), thereby eliminating the painstaking and time-consuming process of exposing the film negative, transporting the film to the station, developing the film and transferring the film to television. The development of ENG enabled TV viewers to experience the world’s events in real-time, rather than watching history unfold, thus eliminating the catch phrase, “film at 11 PM.”

In the early 1980’s, Joe began developing High Definition Television (HDTV). On Feb. 7, 1981, he demonstrated “Hi-Vision” or HDTV to the Hollywood production community at the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineer’s (SMPTE) annual technical conference.

This led to Joe’s appointment as the Chairman of the Planning Committee for the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service, which produced the United States present day Digital High Definition System. His efforts made the United States the first country in the world to convert to a digital HDTV system. Not satisfied with revolutionizing the television system in America, Joe became a Television Technology Ambassador to the world. Joe’s push for a worldwide HDTV program exchange standard at the United Nation’s technical arm, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), led to the rapid deployment of HDTV on a worldwide basis.

Joe also challenged and successfully convinced the Hollywood production community to replace 16/35 mm film, used for prime time television production, with HDTV electronic acquisition and postproduction. Today, all prime time television dramas and comedies are electronically captured and edited in HDTV.

Joe was an active author and lecturer, presenting over 188 published papers and lectures during his career. Joe’s technology leadership was not only acknowledged in America, but throughout the world by the presentation of numerous major Broadcasting awards and honors including:

• Honorary Member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE’s highest award), and the SMPTE Progress Medal Award, David Sarnoff Gold Medal

• Four Technical Emmy Awards - the development of Electronic Newsgathering (ENG), development and installation of the first Digital Computer Automation System, Electronic Editing System of Film Capture, Vidifont electronic character generator.

• Two Personal Life Time Achievement Emmy Awards – The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences “Lifetime Achievements in Contributions to the Development and Improvement of the Science and Technology of Television.” and the “Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award” from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in Hollywood.

• National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Engineering Award

• NAB’s “Award of Honor” for “Introducing High Definition Television to the World”

• “Giants of Broadcasting” award from the Library of American Broadcasting

• Broadcasting & Cable Magazine “Hall of Fame” Inductee

• Consumer Electronics Association “Hall of Fame” Inductee

• Two French Legion of Honors - Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur by President Mitterand of the Republic of France and in l989 he was decorated as a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and later promoted to the rank of Officer de l'Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur by French President Jacques Chirac.

• Swiss Montreux Achievement Gold Medal for Electronic News Gathering

• Fellow of the British Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE)

• Fellow of the Royal Television Society of the United Kingdom

• Fellow of the Chinese Institute of Electronics

• Honorary Member of the German engineering society Fernseh-Kinotechnischen Gesellschaft (FKTG)

• Honorary Members of the Institute of Television Engineers of Japan

• International Vladimir Zworykin award for Technical Achievements in the field of Television from the Russian National Association of Television and Radio Broadcasters

Dr. Joseph Flaherty’s lifetime of television innovation is unmatched in the television industry. His efforts have brought real-time global events into our living rooms and through the clarity of HDTV made the viewer feel “as if they were there”. If anyone is to be credited with creating the “Television Global Village,” it’s Joe Flaherty. Thank you Joe, for being a Television Technology Ambassador to the world.

Joe is survived by his wife Jan Flaherty, his sons Patrick, Daniel, Michael, Timothy, daughter Margaret and eight grandchildren.

A Funeral Mass for Joe will be held 10:00 AM, Tuesday, August 14 at St. Agnes Church, 523 Front St., Greenport, NY. Relatives and friends will gather at the Horton-Mathie Funeral Home, 735 First St., in Greenport, on Monday, August 13 from 2:00-6:00 PM.

Burial will be private at Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, NY.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be sent to Community Fund of Peconic Landing 1500 Brecknock Road Greenport, NY 11944 St. Agnes Church 523 Front Street Greenport, NY 11944, or give to your favorite soup kitchen or homeless shelter 

WASHINGTON—The FCC last week revised its annual filing rules to relieve certain television broadcasters of their obligation to submit Schedule G, which details how they use their DTV bitstreams.

In a Report and Order released April 13, the commission modified its rules to require only licensees and permittees that provide “feeable” ancillary or supplementary services—and thus must pay a 5 percent fee on gross revenues earned from those services—to file Schedule G.

Prior to the rule change, all DTV stations offering ancillary or supplementary services were required every year to file, regardless of whether they earned revenue from the services or not.

[Read: FCC Waives Ancillary/Supplementary Service Reports]

A review of 2017 Schedule G filings conducted by Media Bureau staff found that of the more than 6,000 DTV stations required to file Schedule G prior to the rule change only 12 actually earned revenue from their ancillary or supplementary services.

Parties replying to a public notice launching an FCC review of media regulations last spring urged the agency to change the rule as part of its Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative, the Report and Order said.

“We find persuasive commenters’ unanimous assertions that requiring all DTV stations to file this form, regardless of whether they have provided ancillary or supplementary services or received revenue from those services, imposes unnecessary regulatory burdens and wastes resources,” the agency said in its Report and Order.

Charles W. Rhodes The FCC is proposing 11 scenarios for a 600 MHz Band Plan following the spectrum auctions. Which of these will be adopted will be determined by the outcome of the auction in 2016.

Each scenario for the 600 MHz band starts with Channel 21 (512–518 MHz). The highest channel number ranges from 26 to 44, depending on how much spectrum is offered for sale by broadcasters and then resold to broadband operators. The re-allocated spectrum is divided into blocks of 5 MHz each. There could be from two to 12 pairs of blocks. Pairs consist of one block for uplink transmissions from cellphones to base stations; and a second for downlink transmission by base stations to cellphones.

INTER-SERVICE INTERFERENCE
I have restructured the data in Fig. 1 into Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 2 shows the number of UHF TV channels after repacking. It varies from 6 to 23 depending on how many pairs of 5 MHz blocks are re-allocated after the auction.

Fig. 1: The graph is Fig. 23 of the FCC's June 2 R&O, page 453. Light Blue: 5 MHz blocks of spectrum. Orange: Channel 37 reserved for radio astronomy and medical telemetry (hospitals). Diagonally shaded gray: guard bands. Blocks with numbers from 21–36 and 38–44 should be tinted light green. These are the remaining DTV channels. The numbers in a column on the left side are the amounts of spectrum broadcasters might offer to sell. The amount of spectrum that can be re-sold to broadband is less due to the need for guard bands in the 600 MHz band.

In Fig. 1, the striped cells with numbers of MHz; 11, 9, 7 or 3 represent the guard bands. There is an 11 MHz-wide guard band between the cellphone uplink blocks and the base station downlink blocks. There are also some smaller guard bands, notably, a 3 MHz-wide one adjacent to Channel 37; and a 7 MHz-wide guard band between some base station transmit blocks and DTV channels.

These guard bands are vital to protecting against what the FCC calls “Inter-Service Interference” or ISIX. Broadcasters are familiar with the fact that a DTV transmitter radiates power in both channels adjacent to the channel it is licensed to use. This is sometimes called sideband splatter, but it is actually third-order inter-modulation products generated in the high-power amplifier of a DTV transmitter; which gets past the transmitter RF mask filter and is radiated.

The 3 MHz guard bands on either side of Channel 37 (608-614 MHz), which is reserved for radio astronomy and medical telemetry, protect that channel from ISIX. The total bandwidth of all guard bands varies among the 11 FCC scenarios from 14 MHz to 28 MHz. I call such spectrum “lost” because, by definition, it cannot be used either by broadcasters or sold to broadband. Such spectrum is also lost as a source of revenue to the U.S. Treasury Department.

Fig. 2: Number of DTV channels after repacking as a function of the number of pairs of 5 MHz blocks available for auction.BEST LAID PLANS
I expect there will be pressure by white space advocates to let these guard bands also be used for white space services. That scares me because I recall the “good ol’ days” of Citizen’s Band mobile radios. Chaos soon reigned in the CB Band.

If the FCC chooses either eight or 11 pairs of 5 MHz blocks, it will have to purchase 28 MHz more spectrum from broadcasters than it will be able to resell to broadband operators. Since the commission is mandated not to lose money in these auctions, it will have to resell this spectrum at a price well above what it paid for the spectrum it purchased from broadcasters.

The 2012 law that authorized this auction requires the FCC to recover all costs of conducting it and requires the commission to turn over to the U.S. Treasury the net profits. I believe some of the billions of dollars expected from this spectrum auction will never be realized. I suspect that the estimated $44 billion of auction proceeds do not take into account the fact that some spectrum the FCC will buy cannot be resold because it must be used as guard intervals in the 600 MHz band plan.

The best case scenario from this perspective would have the FCC buy 84 MHz of spectrum and to resell 70 MHz of this spectrum. The minimum markup would be 84/70 or 20 percent. Administrative costs, the $1.75 billion to reimburse displaced broadcasters, and the profit for the U.S. Treasury will erode those billions of dollars promised to Congress.

Fig. 3: “Lost UHF Band Spectrum” in MHz. as a function of the number of pairs of 5 MHz blocks available for auction. Note the steep increase in “Lost Spectrum” between 7 pairs and 8 pairs of 5 MHz auctionable blocks. Fig. 3 plots the number of DTV channels in the 600 MHz band after repacking as a function of the number of pairs of 5 MHz blocks auctioned by the FCC. The outstanding feature of this plot is the steep decline in the number of DTV channels between the scenario with seven pairs of 5 MHz blocks (16 DTV channels) and the scenario with eight pairs of 5 MHz blocks. It would cost broadcasters four channels to allow one additional pair of 5 MHz blocks instead of seven pairs.

When all is said, it appears the best scenario identified by the FCC would provide seven pairs of 5 MHz blocks. This view has also been expressed by a number of cellphone operators according to the FCC.

CELLPHONE DESIGN
The FCC report provides a very complete analysis of each of the 11 scenarios depicted in Fig. 1 (FCC 14–50, p. 453). As Fig. 1 shows, there are guard bands of 3, 7, 9 and 11 MHz between different kinds or signals. The 11 MHz guard bands between uplink and downlink signals are obviously needed to keep the transmitter output from getting into the receiver input. The others are also required to avoid third-order distortion products from causing interference. For example, the 3 MHz band stop filters keep received signals in Channels 36 or 38 out of Channel 37.

Every kind of filter attenuates every signal within its pass band (insertion loss). With each 1 dB of insertion loss, the receiver’s noise figure increases by 1 dB, and sensitivity decreases by 1 dB. Worse yet, where there is more than one filter in the signal path, the insertion loss of each filter is additive. In Fig. 1, you will see that each scenario requires at least one 11 MHz filter and some require two or three filters. Filters not only cost in receiver performance, they cannot be manufactured as an integrated circuit so they take up space and add slightly to the weight of handheld cellphones. The fewer the number of filters in a handheld cellphone, the less it will cost and weigh, all things cellphone users can appreciate. As Fig. 1 shows, the number of filters varies significantly for the various scenarios.

There is yet another variable of importance not shown in Fig. 1, but was covered in the FCC report. The bandwidth over which the antenna of a handheld cellphone is efficient varies between the scenarios in the FCC Plan for the 600 MHz Band. Antenna efficiency directly affects battery life (time between recharges), as well as the sensitivity of the receiver. Scenarios that provide more than eight pairs of 5 MHz blocks will involve these antenna bandwidth problems. Where the efficiency of a simple passive antenna is poor (lots of signal bandwidth), the antenna can be automatically tuned to improve its efficiency. However this automatic antenna tuner feature requires added circuitry and therefore adds to the manufacturing cost. The insertion loss of this reduces the power to the antenna, which translates to increased power drain on the battery when transmitting. When receiving, it adds desensitization of the received signal.

Stay tuned.

Charles Rhodes is a consultant in the field of television broadcast technologies and planning. He can be reached via email atcwr@bootit.com.