MediaFLO USA spared by House vote on digital TV?

Following a unanimous vote by the U.S. Senate to halt broadcast television's long-planned transition to all-digital services, the changeover now appears it will proceed as scheduled after the proposed four-month delay fell short in the House of Representatives. The House voted 258-168 Wednesday in favor of the digital TV measure, 26 votes short of the two-thirds margin required for approval. The Senate voted Monday to delay the digital TV transition from Feb. 17 to June 12. After President Obama expressed his support to delay the transition, congressional Democrats quickly mounted legislation in favor of the postponement.

Proponents of the delay remain optimistic the House will revisit the subject next week and vote a second time--a simple majority decision would be enough to ratify the delay the next time around, as the two-thirds majority was required after the bill was fast-tracked on the House suspension calendar. Among those hoping the House lets the delay lie is wireless solutions provider Qualcomm, which in 2008 spent more than $500 million acquiring eight licenses in the FCC's 700 MHz block spectrum auction to expand its MediaFLO USA mobile broadcast service. In December, MediaFLO USA said it plans increasing its mobile TV footprint by more than 40 U.S. cities beginning Feb. 17, when the digital transition TV would free up the airwaves Qualcomm purchased at auction.

According to a letter from Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs to the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the proposed congressional delay is "unfair, unjust and inappropriate," and pits the interests of 2 million analog TV customers against the 40 million wireless consumers in areas not yet served by mobile TV. "To be clear, any delay of the DTV transition date will prevent 40 million Americans from enjoying our MediaFLO service, and will penalize Qualcomm for having acted as a responsible FCC licensee in following the law and making the investments necessary to turn on our transmitters as soon as the DTV transition ends on February 17, 2009," Jacobs writes in the letter, published in part in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Qualcomm adds it stands to lose "tens of millions of dollars" if the transition is delayed to June.

For more on the U.S. House vote:
- read this San Francisco Chronicle article