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The World Broadcasting Unions (WBU) is the coordinating body for broadcasting unions who represent broadcaster networks across the globe.

It was established in 1992 as a coordinating body at the international broadcasting level. Since then, the WBU has provided global solutions on key issues for its member unions. The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) acts as secretariat for the WBU.

The broadcasting unions who belong to the WBU are the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), the African Union of Broadcasting (AUB), the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the International Association of Broadcasting (IAB/AIR), and the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA).

27 September 2019

WBU Position on Use of C-Band Spectrum for Fixed Satellite Services

In light of initiatives by the FCC, OFCOM in the UK, and other national administrations concerning potential C-Band Broadcast Spectrum (3.7 to 4.2 MHz) reassignment for 5G, the World Broadcasting Unions (WBU) is expressing their concerns over program collection and distribution and the potential impact on hundreds of millions of viewers around the world. To read the full position paper, visit worldbroadcastingunions.org.

With insufficient C-Band spectrum remaining available for broadcasters’ use, existing distribution and collections systems may be compromised, especially in countries with equatorial geography and high rainfall. Additionally, reallocating C-Band frequencies to other services may, over time, increase pressure on the remaining uplink band further limiting its use and compromising existing C-Band users and service reliability, increasing costs to the broadcast community.

“The WBU contends that any consideration of reallocating C-Band spectrum is a serious issue with technical, economic and service implications,” says Michael McEwen, Head, WBU Secretariat. “Detailed impact studies involving all stakeholders need to be undertaken to fully understand the consequences before such a reallocation takes place.”

The broadcasting unions who belong to the WBU are the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), the African Union of Broadcasting (AUB), the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the International Association of Broadcasting (IAB/AIR) and the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA).

 

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The last WBU-TC meeting was held on 11 June 2019 and the 25th EBU Technical Assembly was held on 13-14 June 2019 in Cavtat, Croatia. The meetings were hosted by Hrvatska Radiotelevizija (HRT).

The ABU was represented at the meetings by Mr Hamid Dehghan Nayeri, IRIB and Chairman ABU Technical Committee, Mr Masashi Kamei, NHK and Vice-Chairman, ABU Technical Committee, and the Director ABU Technology & Innovation, Mr Ahmed Nadeem.

The unions agreed to take a collective approach to issues to be discussed at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) in Egypt on 28 October to 22 November.

Among them are spectrum issues, including efforts by the unions to safeguard C-band for use by broadcasters in the future. All the unions agreed that they need to work further to garner more support to their position.

In addition, the ABU introduced a recommendation related to satellite broadcasting in the Ku-band. It calls for a review of the regulation on Ku-band broadcasting satellites to increase the power limit, to allow higher bitrates that can help with UHDTV broadcast signals over satellite.

This recommendation has already been approved by the ABU-TC. The WBU-TC requested further technical details to support the position, and NHK will compile and share these details soon.