Qualcomm set to bring 40 MediaFLO markets online as possible DTV delay looms

An FCC filing reveals that Qualcomm’s plans to launch new MediaFLO markets after the digital TV transition are more urgent than originally thought. Rather than a gradual deployment of new markets after the Feb. 17 deadline, Qualcomm has engineers ready to flip switches in 40 major markets across the country, which would increase its mobile broadcast TV coverage by 40 million people practically overnight. If the DTV transition is delayed as the Obama administration is currently asking, it could also significantly delay Qualcomm’s ambitions to complete its nationwide mobile TV network as quickly as possible.

“Immediately upon the end of the DTV transition on February 17, 2009, Qualcomm will turn on transmitters to launch MediaFLO in many major markets around the country,” Qualcomm vice president of government Dean Brenner wrote in the filing. “Within a few days of February 17^th, Qualcomm will have approximately 100 new transmitters on the air in Channel 55. These new transmitters will allow Qualcomm to launch MediaFLO in approximately 15 major markets across the country and to expand the existing MediaFLO coverage footprint in approximately 25 other markets. These new transmitters will enable Qualcomm to bring the MediaFLO service to over 40 million people who are not served today.”

Qualcomm essentially owns Channel 55 of the analog broadcast airwaves, a 6-MHz channel in the 700 MHz band over which it is launching the MediaFLO network, which transmits mobile-optimized programming from multiple networks—NBC, CBS, Fox and ESPN among them—to handsets offered by AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Qualcomm won the licenses in 2002, long before the DTV transition date, but that didn’t prevent Qualcomm from building a good deal of the network. Qualcomm was able to launch service in markets where there was no broadcaster in channel 55 or the neighboring channels, and in other cases was able to work around resident broadcasters, by either limiting interference to their transmissions or striking deals with the broadcasters themselves. The result, however, was a MediaFLO footprint with some rather glaring holes. While Qualcomm launched in major markets like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, it has only partial coverage in several metropolitan areas and is completely absent in cities such as Boston, Miami and San Francisco.

After the Feb. 17 cut-off date, all of the spectrum presumably would become clear, giving Qualcomm and other 700-MHz licensees unfettered access to the band. Qualcomm had previously announced it planned to fill in those gaps this year, adding an additional coverage area of 60 million people to its 120-million-pop footprint by year end. The filing reveals that Qualcomm’s plans are front-loaded with the aim of taking a majority of those new markets live within a few days of the DTV cut-over. Rumblings in Washington, however, could put those plans on hold for 90 days if not longer.