Seidenberg: FCC should look at cable, not broadcasters, for more spectrum

Verizon may be rolling back its FiOS FTTH video entertainment play and it may or may not be interested in adding DirecTV as more than a TV delivery partner, but it does seem to understand that the FCC's plan to grab 120 MHz of broadcast spectrum for its national broadband plan could exacerbate a channel carriage problem for every service provider--telco, cable and satellite.

Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg thinks the FCC should look elsewhere before tampering with the broadcast paradigm. "Cable companies have bought spectrum over the last 10 or 15 years that's been lying fallow. They haven't been using it," Seidenberg said in a Radio Business Report/Television Business Report story. "So here the FCC is out running around looking for new sources of spectrum and we've got probably 150 MHz of spectrum sitting out there that people own that aren't being built on. I don't get that. This annoys me."

The FCC, he said, should leave the broadcasters alone and let the market and technology decide. "If we can't show that we have applications and services to utilize that spectrum better than the broadcasters, then let the broadcasters keep the spectrum."

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