WASHINGTON, DC – NAB President and CEO David K. Rehr and Association for Maximum Service Television (MSTV) President David Donovan today sent letters to Bush administration officials John Kneuer and Ambassador Richard Russell urging opposition to efforts by Microsoft, Dell and Google to introduce interference-causing unlicensed devices into spectrum dedicated to the digital television transition.
Kneuer is the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications & Information at the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA); Ambassador Russell is the U.S. Representative to the World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) and Associate Director and Deputy for Technology at the White House.
Noting NTIA's $1.5 billion DTV converter box program, the billions spent by broadcasters to upgrade their facilities, and the multi-million dollar campaign to educate consumers about the transition, Rehr and Donovan's letter to Kneuer explained, "it would be a monumental mistake to allow portable unlicensed devices into the broadcast spectrum" because of potential interference to TV reception.
Rehr and Donovan also urged Ambassador Russell to "protect the integrity of the DTV transition," in a separate letter. "We have only one opportunity to get it right," they said.
About NAB
The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association that advocates on behalf of more than 8,300 free, local radio and television stations and also broadcast networks before Congress, the Federal Communications Commission and the Courts. Information about NAB can be found at www.nab.org.
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