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 STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  JONATHAN  S.  ADELSTEIN 
 Re:  Unlicensed  Operation  in  the  TV  Broadcast  Bands  (ET  Docket  No.  04-  186);  Additional  Spectrum  for  Unlicensed  Devices  Below  900  MHz  and  in  the  3  GHz  Band  (ET  Docket  No. 
 02-  380),  Notice  of  Proposed  Rule  Making 
 At  last  year’s  rural  WISP  forum,  I  heard  the  call  for  more  unlicensed  spectrum  from  operators  around  rural  America.  They  wanted  more  power  and  more  capacity  to  drive  broadband 
 deployment  deeper  and  farther  into  all  corners  of  the  country.  I  support  today’s  item  because  it  looks  creatively  at  methods  to  accommodate  unlicensed  operations  in  vacant  TV  bands,  a  portion 
 of  the  spectrum  that  has  such  favorable  propagation  characteristics  for  wireless  broadband  services.  In  this  item,  we  are  rightly  exploring  the  latest  and  most  exciting  cognitive  radios  and 
 spectrum  sensing  techniques  that  are  available  to  see  how  they  can  enable  spectrum  facilitation  in  the  TV  bands. 


 Broadcasters  have  used  public  spectrum  for  many  years  to  serve  rural  and  urban  areas  alike  in  providing  news,  civic  information,  education  and  entertainment.  Unlicensed  operations 
 should  not  be  permitted  in  the  television  bands  if  they  appear  to  be  likely  to  cause  harmful  interference  to  TV  reception,  and  I  fully  support  our  request  for  comment  on  how  best  to  ensure 
 that  such  interference  is  not  caused  by  the  operation  of  unlicensed  devices.  The  American  people  care  a  lot  about  the  quality  of  their  television  reception.  Television  broadcasts  are  viewed 
 by  people  as  perhaps  the  most  sacred  use  of  public  spectrum.  Their  TV  is  not  to  be  trifled  with.  We  will  hear  an  earful  from  consumers  if  this  is  not  done  right. 


 Finally,  it  is  worrisome  that  we  are  undertaking  this  proceeding  right  in  the  middle  of  our  important  digital  television  transition.  I  have  lingering  concerns  about  the  wisdom  of  allowing 
 unlicensed  operations  in  the  vacant  television  bands  before  the  DTV  transition  is  complete,  and  I  encourage  commenters  to  fully  address  this  timing  issue  and  any  problems  that  it  creates. 
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