As you know, all of us have been inundated with notices from various satellite program carriers about the latest fiasco with the FCC over use of C-band satellite frequencies as an ancillary terrestrial frequency band for cellphone and automotive data conveyance. Hence, the concern over interference with all of our C-band satellite program delivery from these outside sources.
What I don’t get is why do thousands of broadcasters and home C-band satellite TV hobbyists have to foot the bill for “registering” their earth stations for protection with the FCC? This to me is akin to paying a more powerful mob for protection from other mobs in old Chicago back in the 1920s.
Seems to me our tax payer dollars — along with licensing fees for every RF conveyance under the sun in radio and TV — should already be paying for this kind of protection from the big boy on the block.
Why is it that the FCC is totally unaware of the entire C band’s use for the broadcasting industry? Seems like there had to be a CFR agreement somewhere about international usage of this band for broadcaster use around the globe.
You can’t tell me the FCC was unaware of the tremendous use placed on this band for delivery of hundreds of radio talk shows, hundreds of TV shows, both network and syndicated, not to mention this is the band that local TV stations depend on to do local uplinks back to the studio when they are on live remote in their community or across the country. TV and radio networks that use this band abound, and it’s crowded with all kinds of programming, both in vertical and horizontal polarizations on dozens of transponders.
So why wouldn’t the FCC automatically protect this band from terrestrial interference as a matter of natural course? After all, it is their job, for God’s sake!
Why charge us individually to protect us from outside interference, when protecting the bands from interference is supposed to be the mission of the FCC? Did I miss something?
The author is chief engineer of Carroll Broadcasting and PD of WIOS(AM) 1480 in Tawas City, Mich.
