Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Emotions Run High In Spectrum Hearing

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 18:33:30 -0400

Emotions Run High In Spectrum Hearing
By Mark Rockwell
June 11, 2003

WASHINGTON -- Emotions flared at a House hearing here today on spectrum needs for
emergency responders as some lawmakers pressed their case that broadcasters should
be moved almost immediately off of valuable spectrum so fire, police and rescuers
could more effectively communicate.

'I'm disgusted with public broadcasters. They haven't considered safety ahead of
profits,' said Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., at today's House telecommunications
subcommittee hearing on spectrum needs for emergency responders.

At the same time the representatives were making their statements, the House voted
overwhelmingly to pass H.R. 1320, the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act, with a
vote of 408-10. H.R. 1320 creates a pay-back fund for military spectrum-moving
expenses. Bipartisan companion legislation (S. 865) has been introduced in the
U.S. Senate.

In his testimony before the subcommittee, Weldon asked: 'Is a TV show more
important than' a fire chief's life? Weldon, a former volunteer firefighter, has
been in the forefront of efforts to bolster homeland defenses after the September
2001 terrorist attacks. His experience with emergency response dates back decades.
Drawing on that experience, he said communications is the single biggest problem
emergency responders have had in the last few decades.

Weldon was joined in his sharp testimony by Rep Jane Harman, D-Calif.  'Those
broadcasters have kids in school that could be killed in an attack' where
uncoordinated communications systems fail to do their job, she said.  Harman,
member of the Democratic Caucus' Task Force on Homeland Security, said
foot-dragging by broadcasters over moving from needed spectrum 'would prompt
action' on bills before the House, which set Dec.  30, 2006, as a firm deadline
for broadcasters to move.

However, there isn't likely to be movement on any broader spectrum reform package
unless powerful Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee W.J. 'Billy'
Tauzin says so, say those familiar with the legislation.  That isn't likely to
happen soon. Tauzin is currently mulling his own version of DTV transition law. At
the hearing he told Harmon and Weldon that he understood their frustration, but
the argument, he said, wasn't really over broadcasters refusing to move, it was
the reaction consumers - and constituents - will have if the DTV transition
doesn't go smoothly. 'It isn't as easy as it sounds...We're concerned about a
fixed date [for broadcasters to vacate the spectrum] and consumers not having an
analog signal to receive with their analog television sets,' he said.

Tauzin extolled the FCC to free up regulations for advancing technology,
particularly ultrawideband devices. Such technology could offer a 'Band-Aid' to
the imminent problems with emergency communications.

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