A group of NAB legal team members has met with individuals within the offices of FCC Commissioners Anna Gómez and Olivia Trusty and Chairman Brendan Carr with the express purpose of sharing its concerns regarding “WT Docket No. 25-59.”
This is the draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking getting a vote at its November Open Meeting that would decide on whether — and if so how — to free up additional mid-band spectrum for new services in the Upper C-band.
As the FCC shared at the end of October, its November Open Meeting on November 20 will see the three vote makers on the Commission consider four docket items. At the top of the list is the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that explores options for reconfiguring the Upper C-band (3.98 GHz to 4.2 GHz) in the contiguous United States, “in furtherance of Congress’ direction in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Ahead of that vote, Robert Weller, Nandu Machiraju and others from the NAB’s legal affairs department on November 7 met with Krista Senell and Marcus Maher of
Commissioner Trusty’s office. Then, in a separate meeting on Monday (11/10), top NAB lawyer Rick Kaplan joined the others in a meeting with Deena Shetler, Edyael
Casaperalta, and Jocelyn Brooks of Commissioner Gomez’s office.
A third meeting was held Wednesday, and it saw Weller, Machiraju, others including NAB Legal and Regulatory Affairs VP of Innovation and Strategy Alison Martin sit with with Arpan Sura of Chairman Carr’s office and Joel Taubenblatt, Susan Mort, and Paul Powell of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
In each meeting, NAB representatives shared the concerns of the association’s broadcast media members regarding the draft NPRM. And, the NAB legal representatives also took time to reiterate “the crucial role” that satellite operation in the Upper C-band plays in the contribution, distribution, and delivery of both television and radio programming.
In doing so, the FCC urged that the Commission account for this when determining whether to exceed the statutorily mandated 100 MHz clearing target and how to ensure incumbents are not unduly burdened during the subsequent transition.
As Martin stated in a notice of ex parte communication filed Wednesday with the Commission and made publicly available late Thursday with the federal government’s reopening, “When viewers flip on their televisions to the big game or tune their radios to their favorite syndicated radio show, they expect the signal to be delivered in pristine quality without interruption. This expectation has grown out of decades of flawless service, partly because of the highly reliable C-band satellite infrastructure for program distribution.”
She added that broadcasters rely on C-band as the most dependable platform for content distribution, such as national news and emergency information, to affiliate stations spread across the United States and beyond.
“C-band is unique: It is both highly resistant to rain fade (unlike other satellite bands, such as Ku-band) and can achieve nearly hemispheric coverage from a single satellite,” Martin stated. “Achieving such quality, reliability, and capability using other platforms will likely require deploying a combination of different technologies at considerable cost and time.”
With the prior lower C-band reallocation, most incumbents “were accommodated within the upper C-band,” she continued. Now, “the reallocation of a portion of the Upper C-band will
require many incumbents to move to other platforms.”
That won’t be cost-effective for broadcasters, as the NAB believes incumbent relocations out of the C-band “will be dramatically more expensive and lengthier than was required following Auction 107 — a process that took nearly three years.”
Thus, the NAB believes, any relocations of incumbents out of Upper C-band must ensure that the quality, capability, and reliability of C-band operation are preserved in the new platform(s), that continuity of operation is maintained during any required transition, and that all costs of relocation are borne by the successful bidders. “Incumbents that can remain in Upper C-band must have enforceable interference protection from new services,” Martin said. “[The] NAB supports the Commission’s goal of expanding broadband and using promoting efficient spectrum use. At the same time, the Commission should avoid undermining the systems that already connect Americans. We respectfully urge the Commission to ensure that broadcasters – and the communities we serve – remain whole throughout the process.”
The NAB urged the Commission to incorporate the following questions, guardrails,
and requests for comment in the draft NPRM:
1. Pursue a detailed, data-driven process before contemplating any clearing beyond
100 MHz. Specifically, request technical showings from space-station operators
demonstrating how existing traffic could be accommodated, including channelization
plans, transponder loading, compression assumptions, and contingency capacity for
occasional use operations and outages.
2. To the extent incumbents cannot be accommodated in the remaining Upper C-band,
seek comment on concrete criteria for “comparable facilities,” including reliability,
availability, coverage, and total cost of operation.
3. Expand the scope of reimbursable costs for incumbents who are not accommodated in
the remaining Upper C-band spectrum to include redundant paths, geographic
diversity of earth stations, monitoring/telemetry upgrades, and security required to
achieve C-band-equivalent reliability. Specifically, seek comment on how to address increased ongoing operational expenses (OPEX) where migration to fiber or higherfrequency satellites increases recurring costs needed to maintain reliability.
4. If the Commission considers accelerated clearing incentives for satellite operators,
seek comment on guardrails to ensure these incentives do not result in higher prices
or degraded service for broadcast customers.
5. Seek detailed comment on impacts where C-band remains indispensable (e.g., Alaska,
Hawaii, Gulf Coast, Caribbean Territories, and border regions), including cost-sharing
implications if the customer base shrinks.
6. Direct technical workshops and a staff-level working group to vet feasibility, timelines,
and test plans before any auction schedule is finalized.
