OVERVIEW

In both their comments and reply comments, broadcasters seeking expanded coverage via distributed transmission system technologies (DTS) continue to fail to acknowledge the huge opportunity costs associated with the massive expansion in geographic service area rights that they are requesting. NAF et al. described these opportunity costs in its own comments and sees no reason to repeat itself here.

Broadcasters also continue to assert that expanded geographic service area rights will result in large benefits for the public; for example, the expansion of "free TV" service. But nowhere do they quantify those benefits or even credibly commit to continue providing "free TV" service.

Broadcasters also continue to pretend to already have as part of their licenses virtually all the rights they request. But the rights they are in fact requesting represent a huge modification of their licenses. Arguments to the contrary merely amount to clever word games.

The FCC should thus allocate these white spaces the way it would allocate any other unused spectrum. That is, consistent with the Communications Act's prohibition of unjustified enrichment, it should conduct some type of comparative process to allocate the unused spectrum rather than merely give it to the nearby incumbents who in this case happen to be high power TV broadcasters.

The FCC should also acknowledge that Dockets 05-312 and 04-186 are integrally linked because both deal with the future of the TV white spaces and both have been made possible by the same underlying technological revolution: the development of low power digital devices that can make use of previously unusable white spaces. To grant broadcasters the DMA rights they seek in Docket 05-312 would largely render moot the outcome of Docket 04-186 because so little of the contemplated white space for unlicensed use would remain.

To view the full comments, see the attached PDF file.