WBU pleads for Spectrum retention for TV
August 12, 2015
By Chris Forrester
The World Broadcasting Union (WBU) has made a strong case for broadcasting’s existing spectrum usage to be left alone at the upcoming World Radio Congress (WRC-15).
The WBU statement was issued on behalf of its various association members (ABU, ASBU, AUB, EUB, etc) and stated: “The use of radio-frequency spectrum by broadcasters remains the most important vehicle for the efficient and scalable delivery of high-quality media content and emergency alerting services to both fixed and mobile audiences.”
Specifically, the WBU statement addressed the claims for certain C-band frequencies to be reallocated for cellular usage, saying: “he WBU does not support any change to the current spectrum allocations at C-band or extended C-band frequencies. The use of downlink spectrum allocated at C-Band (3.7 – 4.2 GHz) or extended C-band in the Fixed-Satellite Service (FSS) is essential to broadcasters’ operations around the world. Systems employing this FSS band have been extensively deployed over decades, primarily for the distribution of content from network centres to affiliated stations, cable head-ends and to other receiving systems.”
The statement added: “This WBU position has been supported by spectrum studies both at UHF and C-band frequencies which have demonstrated that major interference to broadcast operations would result from sharing in these bands with IMT. These studies have been filed with the ITU. The WBU will continue to participate actively in spectrum studies of the radio-frequency bands both assigned and associated with broadcasting, in order to ensure the continued efficient use of these bands for broadcast media content distribution.”