Commentary: Will Congress black out Utah’s TV and radio stations?

Poorly enacted policies from Washington, D.C., are threatening to hurt families, small businesses and communities across the Beehive State. However, swift action by Sen. Orrin Hatch and the rest of Utah’s congressional delegation can protect the state now — before it’s too late.

Our friends working in the nation’s capital are working hard to ensure that everyone across our country finally gets to enjoy high-speed internet access but, in a strange twist, their efforts may unintentionally destroy Utahns’ local TV and radio stations.

Believe it or not, many communities across the United States still have a serious wireless internet connection problem on their hands. As this is something that affected residents can do little to change on the local level, Washington policymakers are right to step in.

The problem began with how radio and then television signals spread across our nation. The broadcast spectrum that carries wireless signals for television and radio was originally filled in a haphazard manner that, nearly a century later, inhibits efficient modern wireless broadband connectivity and new, innovative services.

To free up space across the spectrum, the FCC encouraged broadcasters to sell their old-style analog broadcast range back to government in exchange for a specific, digital broadcast number. Each radio and television station was promised that its connection would remain strong throughout the transition. Stations across the country obliged by selling a good proportion of their spectrum, which the government then in turn auctioned off for use by cellphone providers.

Although Utah doesn’t have a significant cellphone connectivity problem, the spectrum sales will help many Americans across the country who do. For that reason, all of us should be supportive — but the policies shouldn’t be enacted in a manner that hurts Utahns. While this was never the intent of Washington, if corrections are not made, it will likely become the result.

To keep its word of retaining strong radio and television signals for every home, Congress passed the Spectrum Act. This legislation granted TV stations’ relocation costs, including funding for interim facilities to make sure we all continue to have access to our channels during the transition between analog and digital broadcasting.

Unfortunately, that funding is now expected to be too small, and Utah will suffer because of it. Much of the state will feel the impact, but no part more than Salt Lake City. Just in Salt Lake City, the channels that will be hit are KTVX (ABC), KUCW (CW) and KSL (NBC).

And the impact on local TV is just the tip of the iceberg. At the time of its planning, Congress didn’t even know that the bureaucratic-controlled transition of television stations’ broadcast would be allowed to cause interference with local radio stations. This interference would block out the radio stations that often send out their signal from the same towers that transmit the television signals. These radio stations haven’t received any assistance to deal with the bureaucrat-created conflict, but are in dire need. The result will mean radio stations across Utah may be forced off the air — for who knows how long.

Failure to fix this broadcast conflict will not simply harm the people of Utah, it will also change the success story of a free market auction of digital spectrum into just another government bureaucratic failure.

Hopefully, Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee and the rest of the Utah delegation will stand with Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan.; Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J.; and Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, all of whom have done excellent work in introducing legislation to fix this mess. Utah doesn’t deserve to become the nation’s punching bag – not today, not tomorrow, not ever.

Daniel Horowitz served on the staff for members of both the U.S. House and Senate, including the House Committee on Small Business. He has also served as the assistant administrator for policy at the U.S. Small Business Administration under President George W. Bush.