WASHINGTON-Sprint Nextel Corp. and ABC Owned TV Stations Group said that they have come to an agreement on templates for frequency relocation agreements and a group relocation agreement that allows Sprint Nextel to begin moving the ABC stations off of the 1.9 GHz band it received as part of the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band.
As part of that plan the FCC gave Sprint Nextel 10 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band to compensate it for spectrum Sprint Nextel was relinquishing in the 700 MHz and 800 MHz bands. But, before Sprint Nextel could use the 1.9 GHz spectrum, it had to pay to move more than 1,000 broadcast auxiliary service licensees to different spectrum.
Broadcasters use BAS for their live news feeds, among other things. The FCC decided in the 1990s to move the BAS band, but the relocation did not occur at that time. Now, under the Sprint Nextel relocation program, BAS licensees will receive 12 megahertz of spectrum rather than the 17 megahertz they currently use in the 1.9 GHz band. Since the spectrum allocation is different as BAS licensees move, Sprint Nextel must pay for new BAS equipment.
“We’re delighted to have reached this accord, enabling ABC-owned stations across the country to continue their critical local newsgathering and reporting, in compliance with the FCC’s spectrum relocation decisions,” said Dave Converse, ABC Owned TV Stations Group vice president & director of engineering.
The FCC mandated that the BAS relocation be completed by Sept. 7, 2007, and that Sprint Nextel file periodic status reports. In a report filed last month, Sprint Nextel gave a bleak outlook about the prospects of meeting that deadline but the company said it was still committed to the commission’s mandated timeline.
“ABC has again shown its leadership in the broadcast industry by being the first major broadcaster to reach agreement with Sprint Nextel on BAS relocation reimbursement. These agreements provide a model for other licensees to complete their own agreements according to the FCC’s requirements,” said Michael Degitz, Sprint Nextel vice president of spectrum management.
The ABC Owned TV Stations Group has stations in major media markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston.
