And You Thought The Cops Had The Biggest Guns!

It can be both illuminating and demoralizing to realize where one stands in any particular pecking order. For example, before the FCC moved all of its wireless services into a single Bureau, Public Safety and the SMR industry were the top dogs that commanded most attention in the old Private Radio Bureau. Of course, once the big ticket cellular and PCS industries were merged into the new Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Part 90 commercial operators, with the notable exception of Nextel, dropped down several notches in terms of importance and really have never regained that lost ground. It’s nothing personal; just the reality of Commission priorities.

Public Safety, on the other hand, although it temporarily lost some of the FCC’s focus while the agency was bedazzled by the mega-dollars generated by broadband wireless auctions, soon took on an even heightened importance after the tragic events of September 11 th. It has stayed in the spotlight ever since because of high-profile issues such as 800 MHz rebanding and wireless E911 services. (Wasn’t it only a few years ago that we were thrilled just to be able to call someone from a vehicle if the car broke down. It now has become an inalienable right of all American motorists to have their location pinpointed instantaneously if they decide to dial 911.)

In fact, for those who complain the 800 MHz proceeding proves that Nextel gets everything it wants from the FCC, the more accurate answer is that Nextel was clever enough to take its sow’s ear of a public safety interference fiasco and turn it into a spectrum silk pursue by aligning its interests with those of public safety. Others might have (and some cellular operators did) ignore or even try to challenge public safety’s complaints. The cellular industry then tried to muscle public safety into accepting a 700 MHz solution. Nextel recognized that the better course was to make public safety – and thus the FCC – an offer that couldn’t be refused; more 800 MHz public safety spectrum at no cost to them. Nextel gave them what they wanted, plus an open checkbook to make it happen. Having secured their support, it was able to deflect most objections to its plan by characterizing them as opposition to a proposal that would give public safety relief from interference – a no win position for regulators and politicians.

But just when you start to think that public safety is the ultimate trump card, you find out who really carries the biggest gun in town. Public safety does want access to the 24 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum that has been allocated to it (in addition to the extra 800 MHz it is getting and maybe the 30 MHz at 700 MHz designated for PCS as well), but getting it will require dislodging broadcasters from those channels. Of course, the government already has determined that the broadcasters have to vacate all TV channels from 52-69 to make room for public safety and other wireless services. That decision was made years ago. The issue is when.

The current law says that broadcasters have to return the additional 6 MHz each of them was allowed to retain to complete the transition to digital television by January 1, 2007 OR when 85 percent of the homes in their viewing areas are capable of receiving digital signals, whichever is later. Given the number of people you know who have bought digital TVs, what’s your guess as to which will happen first? At the rate we’re going, it could be 2017 or 2027 before we reach the 85 percent penetration level, at least if they consider only terrestrial, over-the-air transmissions in the equation.

Emboldened by recent successes at the FCC and on Capitol Hill, the public safety community had every reason to believe that now was an opportune time to get Congress to revisit the DTV transition deadline. After all, rarely a day goes by that the need for radio communications interoperability doesn’t make the headlines. And the estimable Sen. John McCain was in their corner to boot. Public safety + McCain + the 9/11 Report + an election year! Shouldn’t it have been a slam dunk?

But if there’s one immutable in the communications pecking order – particularly during an election year – it is that the broadcast industry carries the biggest guns and doesn’t hesitate to use them. Verizon may tremble a bit when public safety is on the other side of the table, but NAB and other broadcast interests simply draw a bead. While the issue isn’t over yet, and seemingly won’t be resolved until after the election, the broadcasters staved off attempts to accelerate or even just to solidify the deadline. When McCain seemed to have succeeded in establishing a date certain, broadcast sympathizers were able to add an exception that could have swallowed the rule. The Senate now has endorsed “sense of the Congress” language that would give public safety access to its 700 MHz spectrum by January 1, 2008. The House has pegged the date as December 31, 2006. However, there’s no agreement yet between the Houses and it’s virtually impossible that anything will happen during this legislative session. When they return, it will be a new Congress, perhaps a new administration, and all bets are off as to the priority that will be given to this issue in light of the war in Iraq, the health care crisis, and other matter of national importance. Public safety made as effective a pitch as it could, but there are not many politicians prepared to square off against the very broadcasters that will be deciding how and how frequently to air them during the campaign season. Unless and until television begins to lose some of the power it holds over our political process, even the compelling interests of our public safety providers will come in second to the top dog broadcast industry when those battle lines are drawn.