Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS) is an educational service. Its licensees make extensive use of the spectrum to provide formal classroom instruction, distance learning, and videoconference capability to a wide variety of users. Parts 74 and 21 of the Commission’s Rules regulate ITFS and MDS [Multipoint Distribution Service reserved for commercial operators], respectively.

ITFS consists of twenty 6 megahertz (MHz) channels in the 2.5-2.7 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum band used to provide educational instruction and cultural and professional development in schools and various other institutions. ITFS may be leased to MDS licensees offering subscriber-based services, provided that ITFS usage requirements are met.

ITFS was created in 1963 primarily to provide a formal educational and cultural development in aural and visual form, to students enrolled in accredited public and private schools, colleges, and universities. In 1971, the Commission created an exclusive allocation for ITFS consisting of twenty-eight channels.

MDS and MMDS (collectively referred to as MDS) consist of thirteen channels located in the 2.1-2.2 GHz and 2.5-2.7 GHz spectrum bands. MDS, a commercial service, is generally used to provide multichannel video entertainment programming and is often referred to as "wireless cable." Wireless cable is similar to land based cable television, but primarily uses microwave frequencies instead of hard wires to deliver its content.

MDS dates back to 1970, when the Commission removed a limitation on the authorized bandwidth for licensees utilizing the 2150-2160 megahertz (MHz) frequency band. This action led to numerous applications, which proposed to use this spectrum for the distribution of television programming from a central location to subscribers at many points. Subsequently, the Commission determined that the point-to-point service rules were not appropriate for a service that had become a point-to-multipoint service and in 1974, adopted rules to establish MDS.

[Note: The "Everything Sports Programming Network" (ESPN) and "Home Box Office" (HBO) used microwave frequencies to transmit television programming to subscribers in the 1970s, and later moved to cable and satellite TV for broadcast services.]

In 1983, to satisfy a growing demand for the delivery of video entertainment programming to subscribers and to provide competition to wired cable systems, the Commission reallocated eight of the then twenty-eight ITFS channels for MDS use and authorized ITFS licensees to lease the excess channel capacity on their systems to MDS operators, subject to certain technical limitations and educational programming requirements. This new allocation of channels is referred to as the Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service, a video distribution medium. That action created wireless cable as a multichannel video distribution medium.

In 1991, the Commission made more channels available for wireless cable services. There are a maximum of thirty-three microwave channels used for wireless cable in each market. These include thirteen MDS channels (Channels 1, 2 or 2A, E1-E4, F1-F4 and H1-H3) and the excess capacity on up to twenty ITFS channels (Channels A1-A4, B1-B4, C1-C4, D1-D4 and G1-G4).

As a result of the FCC’s leasing rules, ITFS and MDS systems typically operate in a symbiotic relationship, with MDS operators providing funding used by ITFS licensees for their educational mission in exchange for the extra channel capacity needed to make most MDS systems viable. This symbiotic relationship has resulted in a history of cooperation that has allowed MDS and ITFS entities to reach their mutual goals.

Generally, ITFS channels must be used for providing educational and instructional programming to enrolled students and for transmitting material to select receive sites for in-service training, professional development and continuing education. The Commission has expanded the permissible uses of ITFS channels whereby a licensee may use excess channel capacity on the channels to air non-ITFS programming or may lease the excess capacity to third parties on a commercial basis. In this context, ITFS channels have been used in partnership with companies, which have historically delivered a subscriber based video service (wireless cable) that competes with land based cable television systems to deliver entertainment programming. The 20 channels designated to ITFS include frequencies ranging between 2500 and 2690 MHz.

Over the years, the FCC amended its rules to provide additional operational flexibility to ITFS licensees, in response to technological advances and market forces. First, in 1995, the Commission expanded the protected service area contour for site-based MMDS licensees from a 15 mile radius to a 35 mile radius.(10 FCC Rcd7074) Second, in 1996, the FCC implemented rules for the use of digital modulation schemes, thereby allowing ITFS/MMDS licensees to provide multiple channels of video programming and high-speed data applications such as Internet access. (11 FCC Rcd 18839) Third, in 1998, the Commission authorized the use of two-way transmissions on ITFS/MMDS frequencies, effectively enabling the provision of voice, video and data services and granted a 35-mile protected service area to every ITFS licensee. (13 FCC Rcd 19112).

MDS stations may render any type of communications service on a common carrier or on a non-common carrier basis in accordance with the Commission's Rules, but is generally deemed to be a viable competitor to wired cable. The 13 channels designated to MDS are located on frequencies ranging between 2150-2162 MHz and 2596-2690 MHz.

ITFS and MDS provide a variety of analog and digital one-way and two-way services in the 2 GHz band involving video and data applications that are generally point-to-multipoint, multipoint-to-point in nature. Parts 74 and 21 of the Commission's Rules regulate ITFS and MDS, respectively.