The FCC’s coming auction of the upper C-band for 5G and 6G and possible direct-to-device (D2D) use cases will require incumbents to vacate that spectrum and pursue alternatives such as terrestrial fiber and Ku-band satellites. Those approaches have pros and cons, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, based on recent comments from major programmers, satellite operators and video infrastructure companies.
The good news is that there’s still time to figure it all out. The FCC is moving ahead with rules to auction at least 100MHz of upper C-band spectrum (and up to a max of 180MHz), with a mandate to complete the auction no later than July 2027.
An array of industry organizations, vendors, satellite operators, programmers and service operators have been weighing in with the Commission to debate how much of the upper C-band to auction and how it could or should be used, and to discuss critical aeronautical safety concerns.
Programmers pitch ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy
A good chunk of that debate centers on alternative methods for video distribution.
Several major programmers, including A+E, Fox, NBC Universal (NBCU), Paramount Skydance, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), highlighted their concerns about the auction and presented some potential remedies.
“Relocating the video delivery mechanism that today relies primarily on the Upper C-band will require an ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy, as there is no single distribution method that can replace the unique reliability of the Upper C-band,” the programmers said.
They also warned that a successful transition of some or all of the upper C-band will require more time than the prior transition of the lower C-band, which largely focused on a repacking into the upper band.
“What cannot be overlooked is that no one transition solution will provide a performance-equivalent C-band substitute for all users in all markets,” the programmers explained. If alternative systems fail, they pointed out, consumers will end up gazing at a “blank screen.”
The programmers allowed that transitioning from the C-band to the Ku-band and the use of fiber are among the options, but said “no one solution will work for all users in all markets.” The Ku-band, for example, is susceptible to rain fade, while access to fiber is not a given, particularly in rural areas.
Rural operator explores a hybrid approach
WinDBreak Cable, a small operator that provides video and broadband services in the Nebraska panhandle and eastern Wyoming, is a case in point.
“We 100% rely on C-band,” said the operator’s president, Bill Bauer. Replacing the C-band and its “five-nines” (99.999%) of reliability presents a tall task, he added.
Bauer is proposing a hybrid scenario in which the Ku-band is used as the primary and is backed up and complemented by fiber. If the Ku-band fails or is degraded, fiber would pick up the slack. But Bauer said the fiber link could only be used for short periods because he doesn’t have enough excess bandwidth to cover all of the video channels.
Bauer estimated that this hybrid approach could deliver reliability of 99.997% – equal to about 54 minutes of downtime per year. “We can live with that,” he said.
Like everyone else who will be forced to transition, Bauer expects to be compensated from the funds raised by the auction to vacate the upper C-band and pivot to a new platform. But he also reckons that the upper C-band transition will be more difficult than the lower C-band transition proved to be.
And vacating the lower C-band was no picnic, Bauer added. A project to do so required “a lot of work,” he said, including upgrades at six headends, the realignment of dishes, installing new dishes and new equipment racks, and a bunch of rewiring.
The problem with fiber
While the Ku-band will likely serve as a suitable replacement or supplement for many services currently relying on the upper portion of the C‑band, WinDBreak Cable illustrates why fiber may not always work as the primary go-to. The operator simply lacks access.
WinDbreak Cable’s system in Lusk, Wyoming, for example, is 250 miles away from the nearest major point-of-presence (PoP) in Denver. And the options are sparse or non-existent in other areas, with Bauer noting that Cheyenne, Wyoming, has to run everything through Denver, while Scottsbluff, Nebraska, and Casper, Wyoming, lack PoPs.
“I don’t have any major PoPs close by,” Bauer said, noting that WinDBreak Cable would require another 1-Gig connection to accommodate the current use of the upper C-band.
And the access to fiber that WinDBreak Cable does have is not always stable. Bauer said a system in Wellington, Kansas, has a 1-Gig connection that experiences multi-day outages once a month. “If I was relying on one connection for video, I’d be out of business,” he said.
The Competitive Carriers Association agreed that fiber alone won’t do the job and asked the FCC to allow for flexibility and time for the transition.
“Terrestrial-only alternatives alone are insufficient to replicate the reach, redundancy, or reliability of satellite networks,” the organization told the FCC. “Terrestrial fiber and other broadband networks present many benefits, but they lack the ubiquity and multilayer resiliency on which the programming industry relies for stable national distribution.”
Repacking the C-band
Other organizations are advocating for a multi-faceted approach to transitioning that delivers similar reliability and can be done at a similar cost to the current use of the upper C-band. During a recent webinar, Synamedia execs pointed to a mix of distribution technologies that could play a role in the transition, including fiber, Ku-band satellite, 5G, low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband platforms and even further repackaging of the C-band itself using advanced HEVC or VC-1 compression.
“Multiple scenarios can support this move,” said Ed Allfrey, EVP of video network at Synamedia, which carries several video channels on C-band spectrum in the US across 31 transponders.
Kenelm Deen, director of solutions management and distribution at Synamedia, said there’s room for the introduction of new compression technologies, noting that the latest generation of software-based receivers provide the flexibility to support such changes. However, few receivers in the field are software-enabled today.
The first 100MHz of the transition can be cleared and repacked “with some work,” Deen said.
Synamedia’s current expectation is to see an initial 100MHz of upper C-band spectrum cleared by the end of 2028, and the potential for the clearance of additional spectrum by the end of 2030.