SpectrumTalk

Wireless Microphones and
Docket 04-186: Two Different Viewpoints

On May 1st, the Sports Technology Alliance, a trade group consisting of the major professional sports leagues and ESPN, submitted an ex parte filing to FCC on why the FCC should reject the TV whitespace proposals of Docket 04-186 because of the threat of harm to the production of live sports events or the possible resulting requirement that using beacons to protect legal wireless microphone use "would result in significant additional expense to acquire new equipment merely to enable existing equipment to continue to function." Presumably the "existing equipment" they mention is the analog FM FDMA equipment that is being replaced now in almost every other radio service by more efficient equipment.

To bolster their technical points, this group has hired Harbour Group, a Washington DC PR firm to explain the advantages of the status quo. Harbour's website explains their approach to advocacy:

“We have helped clients sharpen their messaging and delivery to provide support to their allies and put pressure on opponents, shaping the policy environment... Managing the public policy issues that can affect an organization’s success starts with identifying and prioritizing challenges. We conduct thoughtful research, target key constituencies, build successful alliances and mobilize supporters. Our collective backgrounds provide a powerful combination of expertise and experience that allow us to help shape policy development and deliver results.”

Oddly, Harbour has never mentioned why these multibillion dollar clients need continued cost free access to spectrum on demand anywhere in the US even if it denies the use of the spectrum to others and why they cling to using dated FM FDMA technology when even your neighborhood taxi is transitioning to more efficient technology.

SpectrumTalk welcomes Harbour Group to the fray and looks forward to the "pressure" they promise. However, the wireless microphone community might do better hiring technical advisers to see what their technical options really are rather than clinging to technical and regulatory approaches of the past.

Marcus Spectrum Solutions LLC has filed with FCC today a response to the Sports Technology Alliance. Readers are encouraged to compare the two viewpoints and comment on them. While I nominally "moderate" comments on this blog to prevent spam, all comments received will be posted below except those that are clearly spam or contain words not fit for broadcasting. I suppose Harbour Group would not suggest that the other side be as open.