NFL, ESPN Invite FCC To Conduct White Space Tests This Fall

By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

NFL, ESPN Invite FCC To Use M&T Bank Stadium To Conduct White Space Tests

The NFL and ESPN Thursday invited the FCC to conduct real-world tests this fall on unassigned broadband spectrum territory, otherwise known as “white space,” using league and network faculties and equipment. The government and several technology firms have pushed for much of the past two years to use the space to significantly expand wireless broadband Internet service and speed. But a coalition of broadcasters and sports properties have argued an uncontrolled deluge of new signals into the white space spectrum would disrupt existing game and TV operations that rely on wireless technology. The FCC recently finished laboratory testing and is currently developing a schedule for field tests for white space devices. The NFL and ESPN have in particular offered Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, the NFL’s two closest facilities to FCC HQs in DC, as sites for the field tests. “It’s really important to take these devices out of the lab and make sure they have a full and honest run-through,” said Ken Kerschbaumer, Exec Dir of the Sports Video Group, which has organized white space lobbying efforts on behalf of the sports broadcasting industry. “What ESPN and the NFL have done is show the FCC this issue is really important to them, and we obviously hope the commission takes them up on the offer.”