Educational Broadband Service Channel A White Areas (no license issued)
Geographic Service Area Mapping Services for EBS and BRS Licensees
Courtesy: BIA Financial Network, Inc.

Adoption of a Geographic Licensing Framework

Agency Actions

Amendment of Parts 21 and 74 of the Commission’s Rules With Regard to Filing Procedures in the Multipoint Distribution Service and in the Instructional Television Fixed Service and Implementation of Section 309(j) of the Communications Act – Competitive Bidding, Report and Order, 10 FCC Rcd 9589, ¶ 2 (1995) (1995 MDS Competitive Bidding R&O), FCC-95-230; 60 FR 36524.

FCC 95-230 Order: pdf - Word

Executive Summary

In this proceeding, the FCC sought to determine which type of geographic areas would be most suitable for Multipoint Distribution Service (MDS) stations and to address the definition of “protected service area.”

The new rules were intended to (i) accelerate the licensing process by distributing unused MDS spectrum through competitive bidding (spectrum auctions) and (ii) establish a protected service area for MDS stations that is large enough to provide operators with the flexibility needed to design viable and competitive wireless cable systems.

The FCC determined that Basic Trading Areas (BTAs) are the most appropriate geographic area for MDS.

BTAs are regional areas are based on the Rand McNally 1992 Commercial Atlas & Marketing Guide, 123rd Edition, at pages 38 - 39.

BTAs were designed by Rand McNally to represent the natural flow of commerce, comprising areas within which consumers have a community of interest. Typically, a BTA includes a population center and the surrounding rural area.

BTA boundaries are based on country lines, because most statistical information relevant to marketing is published in terms of counties.

The specific boundaries were drawn after a study of several factors, such as physiography, population distribution, economic activities, newspaper distribution and transportation facilities.

Commercial Atlas & Marketing Guide with Basic Trading Area Maps
Courtesy Rand McNally & Company

Issuing authorizations by Basic Trading Areas (BTA) reflects the best balance of competing considerations.

The larger size of the BTA, as compared with the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA), will support transmissions at higher power levels.

If wireless cable stations were licensed by MSA, operators in adjacent areas would have to operate at extremely low power levels to avoid causing harmful interference to systems in adjacent areas.

The use of larger service areas would reduce the need for and cost of interference coordination between neighboring licensees.

In addition, the use of MSAs would result in unnecessary fragmentation of natural markets in order to protect the boundaries of adjacent MSAs.

The FCC explained its rationale in selecting different protected service areas for MDS (Basic Trading Areas) and ITFS (Geographical Service Areas). The two services have different purposes and authorization procedures.

The MDS is commercial in nature and subject to competitive bidding.

The ITFS is intended primarily to provide educational and cultural development to students enrolled in accredited schools and the authorization is issued to the best qualified applicant. The protected service area afforded to an ITFS station is based upon receive sites. In other words, ITFS is licensed on a “site-specific” basis, rather than by geographical area.

The protected service area associated with the lease of excess ITFS channel capacity was expanded to a circle, 35 miles in radius, centered about the transmitter site of the ITFS stations.

The new rules were formulated to facilitate the development and rapid deployment of wireless cable services, which provide a competitive alternative to wired cable and other multichannel video programming distributors.

A wireless cable system is defined as a microwave station transmitting on a combination of MDS and ITFS channels to numerous receivers with antennas, such as single family residences, apartment complexes, hotels, educational institutions, business entities and governmental offices.

The principal use of MDS frequencies is wireless cable television service with one-way radio transmission (usually in an omnidirectional pattern) from a stationary transmitter to multiple receiving facilities located at fixed points. However, Multipoint Distribution Service stations may render any kind of communications service consistent with the Commission's rules.

Geographic licensing is the most efficient method of distributing BRS spectrum in a digital environment, toward which the wireless cable industry is moving.

The nature of digital transmissions will allow more flexibility to tailor signal coverage to geographic boundaries using multiple transmitting facilities.

The new rules will facilitate the transition to digital transmissions.

The FCC decided to award authorizations to utilize MDS spectrum for the entire BTA service areas by competitive bidding procedures. The auction winner for each BTA service area, if qualified, will be awarded a BTA authorization.

The boundaries of each geographic area, with the exceptions of channels obtained through leases with ITFS licensees, will become the protected service area for the auction winner.

The protected service area lies within the geographic boundary of that BTA, except as excluded by any 35-mile circle protected service areas of previously authorized or proposed MDS stations and except for channels related to ITFS lease agreements.

The facilities may be expanded beyond the BTA or into the protected service area of an incumbent with an agreement from the entity that controls the adjacent BTA or the incumbent protected 35-mile circular area.

A BTA authorization holder will be able to construct facilities to provide wireless cable service over any usable MDS channels within the BTA, and will have preferred rights to the available ITFS frequencies and ITFS lease agreements within the BTA.

Only the BTA authorization holder will be qualified to submit any new application for MDS use of available ITFS frequencies within the BTA.

ITFS licensees that choose to lease excess channel capacity are free to negotiate with any potential lessee, however, the holder of the BTA will be afforded the right to match the final offer of any proposed lessee.

When a BTA authorization holder leases excess channel capacity from an ITFS licensee, the protected area of the acquired station will extend to the BTA boundary or the existing 35-mile circle centered around the ITFS station in the BTA that leases the channels, whichever is larger.