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Washington Beat 800-MHz Spectrum Sharing Plan by Laura Quarantiello <lauraq@cts.com> |
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Interference complaints on 800-MHz frequencies are nothing new, but now there’s a proposal to segment the band to reduce interference has been submitted to the FCC. Nextel, the Industrial Telecommunications Association, the Association of American Railroads and Forest Industries Telecommunications, and the Association of Public Safety Communications International are proposing an allocation of discrete blocks of spectrum in the 800-MHz band for public safety and industrial purposes. Nextel has offered $500 million toward relocating public safety communications and has said that it would give up its 700-MHz licenses for use by public safety agencies and its 900-MHz licenses for business and industrial use. As good as this all sounds, the United Telecom Council, which represents utility companies, doesn’t look kindly on the plan. UTC believes the cost to relocate communications systems would range from hundreds of millions to several billion dollars.
FCC Introduces Phase-In Plan For Digital TV By the year 2007, nearly all new television sets will have off-air digital TV (DTV) tuners, according to an FCC plan. The FCC’s five-year roll out schedule will begin with larger, more expensive TV sets, thereby minimizing the costs for equipment manufacturers and consumers. The Second Report and Order and Second Memorandum Opinion and Order require that all television receivers with screen sizes greater than 13 inches and all television receiving equipment, such as videocassette recorders (VCRs) and digital versatile disk (DVD) players/recorders, include DTV reception capability after July 1, 2007, according to the following schedule: Receivers with screen sizes 36 inches and above—50% of a responsible party’s units must include DTV tuners effective July 1, 2004; 100% of such units must include DTV tuners effective July 1, 2005. Receivers with screen sizes 25 to 35 inches—50% of a responsible party’s units must include DTV tuners effective July 1, 2005; 100% of such units must include DTV tuners effective July 1, 2006. Receivers with screen sizes 13 to 24 inches—100% of all such units must include DTV tuners effective July 1, 2007. TV Interface Devices, VCRs, and DVD players/recorders, etc. that receive broadcast television signals—100% of all such units must include DTV tuners effective July 1, 2007.
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