The Coalition for FreeTV and Broadband… Spectrum Slugfest (SatBroadcasting™)

[SatNews] Meetings are underway by these two organizations in Washington D.C. regarding the spectrum auction bill…



The Coalition for Free TV and Broadband and the National Translator Association (NTA) have planned a strategic partnership trip together to Washington DC, currently underway. Representatives from both groups are meeting with lawmakers, the FCC and other citizen groups concerning the spectrum auction bill being discussed in the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. Combined, the two groups represent hundreds of members and more than 3,000 LPTV and translator stations nationwide.



“We are excited to be working closely with the NTA”, said Irwin Podhajser, the Chairman of The Coalition For Free TV and Broadband. “Both of our organizations realize that we are standing at a crossroads for this industry. There is a choice to be made. One choice is to continue the long tradition of free over-the-air television and to free up those stations to provide other services such as wireless broadband. The other choice is to go down the path of handing over more and more control of spectrum to a few wireless monopolies. It is simply not in the consumers’ best interest to have just a few companies controlling access to the wireless world”



Byron St. Clair, President of the National Translator Association, said that “rebroadcast TV translators extend the service of primary TV stations to areas not directly served. TV Translators are a life-line service delivering news, entertainment and emergency information to rural areas that urban TV stations cannot reach. They are authorized on open channels between those used by the primary stations but with the loss of eighteen channels from the TV band in conjunction with the digital transition it is already difficult to find available channels and any further loss of channels will result in a significant loss of TV service to rural America.”



The National Translator Association is dedicated to the preservation of free over-the-air TV and FM in all geographical areas. It works to improve the technology of rebroadcast translators and the regulatory climate, which governs them. Membership is open to all individuals and organizations that are interested in these goals. Their website is at http://www.tvfmtranslators.com/.



The Coalition For Free TV and Broadband is a group of television broadcasters, concerned organizations, and individual citizens and has formed to ensure the survival of free television and to offer solutions to the nation for better, cheaper wireless broadband using the broadcast industry. Find out more at http://www.FreeTVandBroadband.org.