NAB president Gordon Smith
Forty percent of full power local television stations in the U.S. could have to vacate their current TV channel assignment under the FCC’s National Broadband Plan, and a minimum of 210 of those stations could go off the air permanently, according to an NAB analysis released this week.The NAB analysis found that 672 of the nation’s 1735 full-power TV stations must be “cleared” from channels 31-51 to accommodate the FCC’s goal of reclaiming an additional 120 MHz of spectrum from broadcasters. During the analog-to-digital TV transition two years ago, only 174 stations had to be cleared from channels 52-69 and forced to move to a new channel.”If the FCC’s National Broadband Plan to recapture 20 more TV channels is implemented, service disruption, confusion and inconvenience for local television viewers will make the 2009 DTV transition seem like child’s play. NAB endorses truly voluntary spectrum auctions. Our concern is that the FCC plan will morph into involuntary, because it is impossible for the FCC to meet spectrum reclamation goals without this becoming a government mandate,” said NAB president Gordon Smith.Broadcasters returned to the government more than one-quarter of TV spectrum (channels 52-69 – or 108 MHz of spectrum) two years ago following a transition from analog to digital TV.
