Wiley Rein Helps CTIA Secure Agreement with Los Angeles Television Stations for First U.S. Spectrum Channel Sharing Pilot Project

January 29, 2014

Wiley Rein helped CTIA–The Wireless Association secure a channel sharing agreement involving two Los Angeles television stations as part of a nationwide effort to free up more airwaves for wireless broadband services.  Under the agreement, stations KLCS and KJLA would participate in the nation’s first spectrum sharing pilot project.

If approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the pilot project will be conducted in the first quarter of 2014, CTIA said yesterday in a news release.  The project’s goal is to provide interested parties with critically important data on how to implement a successful channel sharing operation as the FCC prepares for its 2015 incentive auction.

On behalf of CTIA, attorneys from Wiley Rein’s preeminent Communications Practice were involved in drafting the contract agreement and assisted with FCC regulatory filings.  The firm advised CTIA on the legal and technical framework necessary for the channel sharing agreement to be reached.  Wiley Rein’s team included partners Eric W. DeSilva and Robert D. Benton, senior engineering advisor Thomas S. Dombrowsky, Jr., and associates Jessica B. Lyons and Jerita L. DeBraux Salley.