The Association for Maximum Service Television asked the commission Feb. 7 to rescind rules permitting deployment of Access Broadband over Power Line (Access BPL) technology in the 50MHz to 80MHz band (TV channels 2 through 5) until after the completion of the DTV transition.
According to the association’s filing, recent tests reinforce existing evidence that Access BPL signals threaten to interfere with broadcast signals in the low VHF band. The interference could disrupt the DTV transition “at a critical juncture,” complicate the DTV channel election process and delay the return of spectrum currently used for TV analog transmission.
MSTV urged the commission to put Access BPL below 50MHz on hold until the digital television transmission is complete. At that time, the association’s filing suggested, the commission could take up the matter if there appears to be a need to expand spectrum for Access BPL.
Taking this course serves the public interest because it promotes the availability of both DTV and Access BPL to consumers without setting up potential problems.
For more information, visit www.mstv.org.