Huge Majority of Americans Favor Auction of Underutilized Broadcast Spectrum

Cite Need for Better Wireless Service

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- By a six-to-one margin, Americans believe that underutilized spectrum – the nation’s airwaves used for everything from local broadcast television to wireless devices – should be auctioned off to raise money to lower the federal deficit, according to a new poll commissioned by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)^®. In addition, Americans increasingly see less value in over-the-air broadcasts.

The poll conducted by Zogby/463 also found that Americans generally assign a lower value to over-the-air broadcasts compared to other uses of wireless spectrum. Fewer than 10 percent of American households rely on television signals broadcast over-the-air from local television stations, even though such television stations are currently permitted to use – for free – sufficient spectrum to serve 100 percent of consumers. This perceived lack of value in such underutilized spectrum may explain why 65 percent of Americans surveyed support auctioning these airwaves, while only 13 percent support allowing broadcasters to keep the spectrum for over-the-air broadcast programming. Under a voluntary incentive auction proposal introduced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and supported by the Obama Administration, the underutilized spectrum would be re-purposed for broadband services and would raise an estimated $33 billion for the U.S. Treasury.

The poll of 2,138 Americans, conducted in early April 2011, underscores the decreasing reliance on over-the-air broadcast and increasing reliance on the Internet and mobile devices:

• Only 10 percent of Americans say they get breaking news from over-the-air broadcasts. The most relied upon source is now Internet news sites (38 percent) and cable broadcasts (30 percent). An even smaller group of Americans, three percent, say they rely on over-the-air broadcasts to stay up to date on news.
• By a 6:1 ratio, Americans would prefer that spectrum be utilized for faster wireless services rather than over-the-air local broadcast television.
• Four in ten Americans say that over-the-air broadcast TV is the information medium they could most likely live without. Only three percent said they could most live without the Internet. Cable broadcasts (17 percent) and smartphones (37 percent) rounded out the list.

In addition to the polling, CEA conducted man-on-the-street interviews to hear how consumers in Washington, D.C. felt about these issues. Not surprisingly, in-person consumer response mirrored the findings of the survey. To see the interviews visit youtube.com/user/IMovementCEA#p/a/u/1/JS7ZH8ZUWsA.

The Zogby/463 poll of 2,138 Americans was conducted from April 5 to April 7, 2011 and has a margin of error of 2.2 percent. A sampling of Zogby's online panel, which is representative of the adult population of the United States, was invited to participate. The full study is available upon request.

About CEA:

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $186 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also owns and produces the International CES – The Global Stage for Innovation. All profits from CES are reinvested into CEA’s industry services. Find CEA online at CE.org and Innovation-Movement.com.

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KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  Virginia

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