FCC Considering Grabbing More Wireless Mic Spectrum-Here We Go Again

When I picked up yesteday’s New York Times and turned to the business section, I thought I time traveled back to 2010. The lead story was titled “U.S. May Sell Airwaves That Help Broadway Sing.” I thought that that was old news.

Now it turns out that they are considering grabbing more bandwidth and pushing wireless microphones out again. Less than three years ago, The Federal Communications Commission turned over the 700 megahertz band, long used by low power, unlicensed wireless devices like microphones, to other wireless devices and auctioned off the rights to use that spectrum. Churches, theaters, schools and audio visual services had to stop using their wireless mics and hundreds of thousands of units had to be replaced. At the time, users were assured that this was a one-time grab and that by moving down to lower frequencies they could operate safely.

Now, not only wireless mics, but lots of other low power communications devices used in entertainment and audio-visual production, are again at risk of being outlawed. The F.C.C. wants to make this spectrum available to cell phone companies, who will pay dearly for it. Wireless mics now are able to ride along unused portions of the broadcast spectrum allocated for television broadcasting. If those frequencies are auctioned off, they will no longer be available.

Not all spectrum handles wireless mic transmissions equally well, and now Broadway producers are faced with the possibility of being forced to use frequencies that will not handle nearly as many simultaneous signals as they can currently use. Take that problem and multiply it by a hundred when you pack so many users into a small space like the Theater District in New York and trouble will ensue.

We’ll watch this one closely.  Check for followups at wirelessmic.net.

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