Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel Strikes Deal With TV Broadcasters

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 04 May 2004 03:58:31 -0400

Nextel Strikes Deal With TV Broadcasters
By Yuki Noguchi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 4, 2004; Page E03

Nextel Communications Inc. yesterday agreed to pay $512 million to
shift certain television transmissions to another portion of the public
airwaves as part of its broader plan to reallocate spectrum so that
cellular calls do not interfere with public safety communications.

The Federal Communications Commission is considering the request,
and Nextel's deal with the broadcasters means it has picked up
potentially powerful lobbying allies: the National Association of
Broadcasters and the Association for Maximum Service Television Inc.

Television broadcasters currently use spectrum in the 1.9-gigahertz
range to transmit remote television feeds. Nextel wants to make use
of the spectrum as part of its plan to reduce interference in the
800-megahertz range, where it currently operates.

Broadcasters have spent the past decade trying to find more efficient
ways to transmit their live news feeds, and "today's plan achieves that
goal while clearing spectrum for essential public safety services,"
said Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for NAB.

The agreement potentially increases Nextel's costs of relocating the
broadcasters from $150 million to $512 million. Nextel had originally
hoped to recoup some of the expense from other companies that
would share the 1.9-gigahertz airwaves with Nextel, but now it will
no longer ask for that compensation, said Nextel spokeswoman Leigh
Horner.

Separately, Nextel has offered to pay $850 million to pay for the
relocation
of public safety and other private wireless carriers in the
800-megahertz
band, and it has offered to give up some spectrum there.

Nextel's rivals, meanwhile, have been lobbying against Nextel's efforts
to take control of the 1.9-gigahertz spectrum, claiming the spectrum is
worth far more than what Nextel is offering to pay.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64125-2004May3.html

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