By John P. Wong, Federal Communications Commission
Peaceful co-existence, that's the key! It has been more than a dozen years ago since cable television operators, in search of additional channel space, expanded into the frequency spectrum between television channels 6 and 7 (midband). During the same time period the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) expressed concern about the potential problems associated with cable's usage of the midband and superband (specifically the frequency bands between 108 - 136 MHz and 225 - 400 MHz). The cable industry's battle cries of: cable is a closed system, cable does not make airplanes fall out of the sky, and the FAA should police its own before coming down upon innocent cable operators, have all been heard. The pros and cons of the issue have been considered, but still there has yet to be found an acceptable solution to the problem.
By delving into the past, and looking at the present, the author will suggest a compromise solution for this troublesome problem that is going well into its second decade.