Broadcasters Meet With FCC On Spectrum

By Andrew Gauthier 

TVNewsCheck

Broadcasters have begun making their opposition to the FCC’s cash-for-spectrum plan known in visits with FCC officials.

Last Friday, a contingent including Hearst Television CEO David Barrett and several Washington broadcast reps met with Blair Levin and other members of his Broadband Task Force, which floated the plan with broadcasters last month.

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The day before, newly installed NAB President Gordon Smith met with all the FCC commissioners except for Chairman Julius Genachowski.

The plan calls for broadcasters to swap most of their spectrum for a share of the proceeds that would come from the auctioning of the spectrum to wireless broadband providers. TV stations would keep just enough bandwidth to continue broadcasting a single SD channel.

According to the ex parte notice disclosing the meeting, the Barrett group argued against reallocating broadcast spectrum. More…

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