WASHINGTON, D.C.—Broadcasters need to act now in order to protect their access to national programming ranging from talk shows to live sports.
The C-Band satellite feed is the topic of Womble Bond Dickinson telecom attorney Gregg Skall's latest "FCC Uncensored" column at All Access. The FCC has opened a window through July 18, 2018 for radio stations to license applications or register for interference protection on their existing C-Band downlink service.
"Broadcasting has a big problem in that a lot of stations never registered or frequency coordinated their satellite dish and are now sitting on existing and unregistered fixed-satellite service (FSS) earth stations," Skall writes. The licensing window is intended to be a remedy for this problem, but stations need to act before the July 18 deadline, according to Skall.
This has become an issue because federal lawmakers are exploring increased sharing of the C-Band, including possibly for 5G wireless broadband. Skall writes that broadcasters need to register now to ensure that they continue to have a place at an increasingly crowded table.
Click here to read "Time To Protect Your Satellite Feed" at All Access.
Gregg Skall represents broadcasters and other parties in their regulatory dealings before the Federal Communications Commission and in their commercial business dealings. He serves as Washington Counsel to several state broadcaster associations. He also works with telecommunications companies and with radio device manufacturers to obtain FCC approvals.
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