One of many questions persisting since the release of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan has been “what is the impact on low power television stations?” Officially, the NBP’s call for repurposing television broadcast spectrum was not to affect LPTV stations, as the NBP indicated that LPTV stations would not be…
Earlier this week, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz began the FTC’s final workshop concerning the future of media “How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?” by dismissing as a ” non-starter” any chance that his agency would recommend new taxes to support or “save” journalism. In advance of this workshop, the…
Not only broadcast stations, but churches, schools, concert venues, live theater, film productions, business presenters, sporting events, and motivational speakers will have to change the way they operate, starting this weekend. As we wrote in a Client Advisory back in January, the FCC set June 12th, 2010–the anniversary of the…
The press is buzzing with news, leaked late yesterday and announced today in a document entitled The Third Way: A Narrowly Tailored Broadband Framework, that FCC Chairman Genachowski is proposing to reclassify the transmission component of broadband Internet access as a “telecommunications service” subject to FCC regulation. As almost everyone…
Blair Levin, who headed the FCC’s Omnibus Broadband Initiative (OBI) for the past year and who was the principle architect of the National Broadband Plan, announced yesterday that he’s leaving the FCC on May 7 to join the Aspen Institute, a large and prestigious think tank. Levin created the OBI…
This week saw generally positive news for television broadcasters on the broadband front. First, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the FCC does not currently have authority to regulate the network management policies of Internet providers. Aside from the fact that the Court’s ruling challenged…
3/22/2010 Businesses dependent on spectrum should be alert to FCC trend toward greater frequency sharing and incumbent dislocation. Introduction The FCC’s staff has released its long-awaited National Broadband Plan (“NBP”). As expected, the NBP includes controversial proposals to reclaim 120 MHz of spectrum from television broadcasters. Another spectrum reallocation, involving…
March 17, 2010 Pillsbury invites you to join a conference call on Wednesday, March 24 at 2 p.m. to discuss the broadcast spectrum changes proposed in the National Broadband Plan. The National Broadband Plan (“NBP”) proposes immediate and sweeping steps that, if adopted, could displace many television broadcasters from their…
December 2009 Earlier this week, the FCC released a Public Notice seeking “specific data on the use of spectrum currently licensed to broadcast television stations.” According to the Public Notice, in other proceedings related to the FCC’s development of a National Broadband Plan some commenters “have expressed concern that the…
June 2008 The FCC has long permitted devices employing relatively low level radio frequency signals (“Part 15 devices”), such as garage door openers, cordless telephones, personal computers, and computer peripherals, to be operated without the need for a spectrum license. While such operations are unlicensed, the devices themselves are not…