FCC Member Open to Reallocating TV Spectrum
Republican FCC member Meredith Baker, who played a key role in shifting television broadcasters to digital spectrum, is open to taking some of those airwaves away and reallocating them for wireless broadband use. "I think that all ideas should be on the table," she said Monday during the taping of an interview to run on C-SPAN this weekend, adding, "It might be part of the solution."
The agency, which has warned of a looming spectrum shortage, needs to identify more wireless frequencies to accommodate the goals to be outlined in a national broadband plan to be presented to Congress in February. Broadcasters oppose a recent plan floated by the FCC to repurpose some of the broadcasters' spectrum, arguing the move could undermine the provision of free, over-the-air programming.
Baker expressed hope that the matter can be resolved without acrimony -- and without the FCC being cast as anti-broadcaster. "I think we actually may come up with a solution that's a win-win," said Baker, who ran a federal coupon program at the Commerce Department during the Bush administration that issued vouchers lowering the cost of converter boxes. The interview will air Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on C-SPAN and Monday at 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. C-SPAN 2.
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