WASHINGTON—Whether or not broadcast television has been given too much spectrum is a key issue that Jim Ciconni, senior executive vice president of AT&T, asked policymakers to consider at the Telecom Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., sponsored by Free State Foundation. Ciconni claimed that broadcasters are not fulfilling their obligations of their licenses.
Ciconni, who is currently serving as AT&T’s D.C. lobbyist on an interim basis, said that broadcasters’ amount of spectrum has created an “unlevel playing field” and argued that channel blackouts are key part of broadcasters failing “the social contract” that was part of their local license agreements.
“The status quo is not sustainable,” Ciconni said.
TVT’s sister publication Multichannel News asked a question about how NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) could potentially impact the spectrum issue, Ciconni said “I don’t really know."
More coverage on the Telecom Policy Conference is available on B&C.
