WASHINGTON—The rules of the upcoming incentive auction of TV spectrum for wireless broadband have provoked 33 Petitions of Reconsideration with the Federal Communications Commission. Comments on those petitions are now due in a week, on Nov. 12. Replies are due Nov. 24. Dates were revised after a publishing faux pas in the Federal Register.
Of those filing, 18 of the petitions represent 27 broadcast organizations. Prominently, Sinclair Broadcast Group and the National Association of Broadcasters are missing, both having filed lawsuits against the rules in federal court.
Healthcare technology is represented among non-broadcast groups. GE Healthcare, for example, is concerned that the repack will interfere with wireless medical telemetry service. WMTS shares Ch. 37 with radio astronomy. The repack will put more stations on Chs. 36 and 38, GE said.
“The repacking will likely lead to a different combination of TV stations operating on these channels than is the case today, which will strand the investments already made by some WMTS operators to harden their systems and require others to abandon some or all of Ch. 37, or incur the significance expense of hardening for the first time their WMTS systems to prevent harmful interference,” GE’s attorneys wrote.
The auction rules also open Ch. 37 up to unlicensed devices, which GE said will cause further complications.
Another non-broadcast petition represents Part 90 Private Land Mobile Radio licensees, who share TV Chs. 14-20 in 11 major metropolitan areas. The Part 90 licenses comprise walkie talkies, emergency automobile communications, and alarm systems for “fire, burglaries, sabotage, acts of terrorism and other emergencies” in “government offices, power plants, hospitals, darn and water authorities, pharmaceutical plants, chemical plants, banks, schools and universities,” among others, the petition states.
The representing firm, Blooston, says Part 90 operations will now be “forced to compete for licenses at auction when formerly they were exempt.”
The full list of petitioners is below, available on FCC Docket No. 12-268, are below.
Benjamin Perez, on behalf of Abacus Television
Stephen G. Perlman, on behalf of Artemis Networks, LLC
Ari Q. Fitzgerald, Esq., on behalf of GE Healthcare
Steven K. Berry, on behalf of Competitive Carriers Association
Louis Libin, on behalf of Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance
Andrew W. Levin, on behalf of T-Mobile USA, Inc.
Melodie A. Virtue, Esq., and Garvey Schubert Barer, on behalf of Beach TV Properties, Inc., and Free Access & Broadcast Telemedia, LLC
Jennifer Johnson, Esq., on behalf of Bonton Media Group, Inc., and Raycom Media, Inc.
John R. Feore, Esq., on behalf of Block Communications, Inc. and FBC Television Affiliates Association
Eve Pogoriler, Esq., on behalf of Gannett Co., Inc., Graham Media Group, ICA Broadcasting, and the Dispatching Printing Co.
Dean R. Brenner, on behalf of Qualcomm, Inc.
Gerard J. Waldron, Esq., on behalf of CBS Television Network Affiliates Association, and NBC Television Affiliates
Wade H. Hargrove, Esq., on behalf ABC Television Affiliates Associates Association
Donald G. Everist, on behalf of Cohen, Dippell and Everist, P.C.
Dale Woodin, on behalf of the American Society for Healthcare Engineering of the American Hospital Association
Sally A. Buckman, Esq., on behalf Journal Broadcast Corp.
Margaret L. Tobey, on behalf NBC Telemundo License LLC
Mike Cavender, on behalf of Radio Television Digital News Association
Michael Gravino, on behalf of LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition
Mitchell Lazarus, Esq., on behalf of Sennheiser Electronic Corp.
M. Anne Swanson, Esq., on behalf of Media General, Inc.
Mace Rosenstein, Esq., on behalf of the Videohouse and Public Broadcasting Service, Inc.
Lonna Thompson, on behalf of Association of Public Television Stations Lawler, Metzger, Keeney & Logan, LLC
J. Westwood Smithers, on behalf of Corp. for Public Broadcasting
Katherine Lauderdale, on behalf Public Broadcasting Service
A. Wray Fitch III, Esq., on behalf of American Legacy Foundation and Signal Above, LLC
Tom W. Davidson, Esq., on behalf of the Walt Disney Co.
Paul J. Broyles, on behalf of International Broadcasting Network
Dean M. Mosely, on behalf U.S. Television, LLC
William H. Shawn, Esq., on behalf of Mako Communications, LLC.
Preston Padden, on behalf of Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition.
Lawler, Metzger, Keeney & Logan, LLC for Sprint Corp.
Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy & Prendergast, LLC, for Blooston Part 90 Licenses
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