F.C.C. Orders Wireless Mike Modifications

[Fansome]

NY Times
January 16, 2010
F.C.C. Orders Wireless Mike Modifications
By MATT RICHTEL

SAN FRANCISCO — Broadway theaters, sports franchises and other public entertainment forums must change the radio frequency they use for their wireless microphones under an order issued Friday by the Federal Communications Commission.

Under the order, the groups have until June 12 to find other radio frequencies, something the theaters said could cost thousands of dollars per institution but that they can do.

The F.C.C.’s ruling relates to a broader shift in the way the nation allocates precious spectrum used to transmit signals for mobile phones, TVs and other devices. The commission said the transition was necessary to make spectrum in the 700-megahertz band available for use by next-generation wireless services for consumers and public safety agencies.

Use of much of that spectrum has been licensed for around $20 billion by major wireless carriers.

Broadway theaters and other groups, like sports leagues, had hoped to maintain some slice of the spectrum because they said it would be too disruptive to change. They argued that their use would not interfere with the new spectrum uses.

Still, Thomas Ferrugia, director of government relations for the Broadway League, a trade group, said that many theaters had anticipated the commission ruling and begun to develop alternative plans.

Art Brodsky, a spokesman for Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group, said the F.C.C.’s order was important because the spectrum vacated could be used by entrepreneurs seeking to come up with new wireless services. “By moving the wireless microphones out of their current spectrum, it clears the way for a whole new generation of wireless services,” he said.

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