FCC At It Again! 600mHz going away...

[Interceptor]

My day job is a living Purgatory thanks to the upcoming TV auction. I'll leave the details of that to PM land.

Wireless mic use is going to get impacted as the TV band gets another shark bite taken out of it by cellular users. Right now TV goes up to channel 51. When the dust settles, that'll be channel 37 or lower. Where it will end up nobody can safely say. What will happen is "white space" users (those who use TV channels not used in that market) will have less spectrum to use, and will have to wrap their heads around the new channel allocations once they are published. No fun at all for touring operators.

Pay attention to the directions given by firms like Lectrosonics, EV and Shure. They are engaged with the realities. And participate in the groups like AES, NAB, SMPTE and SBE. The wireless mic users are getting some traction with the FCC, but it is still far from solid.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Once again, without the jargon?

 

[Interceptor]

In the United States, the government is restructuring the band of radio frequency that currently is used by television and professional wireless microphones. The governmental agency leading this is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC.)

The current practice is for wireless microphones to operate on a frequency that is within the UHF television assignment and on a television channel not used in that city. The restructuring will reduce the amount of spectrum used by television and will cause a large number of television stations to relocate to a different channels. When it is all done, the remaining unused channels in any city will be fewer in number, making finding the right frequency to set a wireless mic on more difficult. The spectrum currently assigned to television will be split in two, with the upper segment going to wireless broadband and cellular providers. How much left for television isn't clear at this time.

Additionally, there was a restructuring of spectrum a few years ago in the United States that had reduced the television band, and required operators of wireless mics to replace numerous products which used the spectrum that was reassigned at that time. Those who were financially impacted by that process are still unhappy.

There are a number of professional groups working to advocate on behalf of wireless mic users. NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) AES (Audio Engineering Society) SBE (Society of Broadcast Engineers) and SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.)

 

[Downunderwonder]

Thanks.