Crown Heights

Clarke to FCC chairman: Give small biz a piece of broadcast pie

July 17, 2015 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke says she’s concerned about small businesses being left out of the communications revolution. Eagle file photo by Rob Abruzzese
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Owners of small businesses deserve to be able to set up television stations or establish wireless services for customers as much as large corporations do, according to U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke who is pushing for them to have better access to the country’s broadcast spectrum.

Clarke is urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to come up with policies protecting the little guy.

Broadcast spectrum refers to the range of frequencies of electromagnetic waves assigned to television and radio broadcast stations in the U.S.

In recent years, it has also come to refer to frequencies for wireless broadband.

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The determination of which frequencies that entities licensed by the FCC are able to use is done through a process known as frequency allocation. The FCC is authorized to regulate spectrum access of both private and government uses.

In recent years, as technology has leaped forward, the U.S. has engaged in spectrum re-allocation, in other words, creating room in the broadcast spectrum of frequencies for wireless broadband and other services, not just television and radio.

Spectrum re-allocation takes place through auctions that were authorized in Title VI, a law passed by Congress in 2012.

Clarke (D-Central Brooklyn) has written a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler requesting that the agency work to make sure small businesses have access to those auctions.

“By expanding opportunities to participate in broadcast spectrum auctions, we will support many small businesses owned by women and people of color who remain substantially underrepresented in telecommunications,” said Clarke, a member of both the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Small Business Committee.

Clarke is also asking that the FCC expand access to broadcast spectrum for small businesses, a move she said could create jobs for American workers. “This proposal has the potential both to create jobs and to increase diversity in our media,” she said.

Five other House members, including U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, signed the letter to the FCC. 

Clarke charged that regulations have allowed multi-national corporations to obtain spots in the broadcast spectrum to the exclusion of small businesses, and that unnecessary requirements have been placed on small businesses that make it difficult for them to gain a foothold.

Clarke said she wants make sure that owners of small businesses are not left out in the cold.

“These small business owners want to obtain licenses to open television and radio stations and to enter the market for wireless services, sectors of the economy that continue to develop as Americans access more content on their smartphones and tablets,” Clarke added.


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