NILES, IL--With official news that the FCC has rescinded its October deadline for issuing new regulations governing use of the hotly-contested "White Spaces" within the TV spectrum, Shure Incorporated's president and CEO Sandy LaMantia lauded the continuing efforts of a growing bipartisan group on Capitol Hill lending its support to wireless microphone interests.
"I want to thank all of the legislators in Washington who are calling for a thorough evaluation of these most complicated issues," LaMantia said following the release of a letter signed by three members of the House of Representatives from Nevada urging FCC chairman Kevin Martin to give mindful consideration to the debate. "Your support for the audio products industry and for Shure's efforts to protect wireless microphone users has been invaluable."
The letter's authors, Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Jon Porter (R-NV), and Dean Heller (R-NV), are the architects of the latest bipartisan push to insure that meaningful and comprehensive interference protections are given to wireless microphone operation as the FCC presses forward on a path toward issuing new rulings for White Spaces use.
"We feel that the Commission is well-served to rely on its engineers to develop a tight interference-free solution to the White Spaces issue before allowing new products on the market," Berkley, Porter, and Heller said in their letter to FCC Chairman Martin. "The recent report released by the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology confirms our most serious concerns--that technology to permit safe cohabitation of unlicensed devices with wireless microphones just doesn't exist."
The Nevada members of the House also related comments from one of their constituents in its letter to chairman Martin that illustrate concerns felt by many audio professionals nationwide. "The term 'White Spaces' doesn't fit when considering the state of the RF spectrum at play in Las Vegas today," Mark Dennis, audio engineer for the Cirque du Soleil show KA at the MGM Grand was quoted as saying. "Given the number of sophisticated live productions in Vegas right now, our spectrum is much more of a 'dark grey space'. There's little, if any room for additional gear in this band in our area."
Shure Incorporated...www.shure.com
