Sprint Nextel is working on a deal with the local public television station to acquire a coveted broadband spectrum. If successful, the telecom giant may end up competing with its land-line spin off for Internet customers.
KLVX Channel 10 General Manager Tom Axtell said Sprint Nextel's Kansas City headquarters has already submitted a written offer to lease the station's Educational Broadband Service, or EBS. The Channel 10 GM says Sprint and competing bidder Clearwire want the spectrum to provide wireless broadband Internet services to customers in Southern Nevada.
The high-speed Internet market is currently served by Sprint's soon-to-be-spun off land-line division, LTD Holding. "I think it is totally inevitable," consultant Frank Dzubeck said of the potential for competition. He heads the Washington, D.C-based Network Communications Architects consulting company.
Sprint's LTD spokeswoman Vicki Soares said she didn't know what would happen if the spectrum was purchased.
"When the companies do separate at some point in 2006, there will be competition," said Soares, "but if we had this spectrum, it could be used in so many ways." She conceded, however, that "if it was used for wireless, it would probably go to the (Sprint Nextel) wireless division."
The entire spectrum equals 6 megahertz of bandwidth and includes 20 low-power television channels. It was valued at around $9 million for a 30-year lease, according to two external studies commissioned by the station, Axtell said.
Any revenue from the spectrum lease will be used to finance Channel 10's move into its new digital studio. Axtell said the station might receive less than the $9 million because KLVX is requiring that some of the spectrum be used for educational and homeland security broadcasts.
The EBS licensed spectrum was once used primarily for educational programming for schools. New rules passed by the Federal Communication Commission earlier this year have pushed the educational spectrum owners to enter into leases with private companies. Nationwide, the private entities leasing the spectrum have mostly used it for broadband wireless. Sprint Nextel now controls about 70 percent of the licenses in the U.S. for the educational spectrum and its sister spectrum, broadband radio service (BRS).
"We have negotiations with 11 perspective bidders," Axtell said, noting that only Sprint and the Kirkland, Wash.-based startup Clearwire have submitted their interest in writing. Clearwire offers wireless-broadband services in markets in Oregon, California, Minnesota, Texas and Florida, and has announced plans to enter into 20 more markets this year.
"It has been classified for broadband," Axtell said of KLVX's spectrum. The lease is expected to be signed shortly before, or just after, the beginning of next year, the Channel 10 general manager said.
http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2005/10/28/news/news04.txt
KLVX Channel 10 General Manager Tom Axtell said Sprint Nextel's Kansas City headquarters has already submitted a written offer to lease the station's Educational Broadband Service, or EBS. The Channel 10 GM says Sprint and competing bidder Clearwire want the spectrum to provide wireless broadband Internet services to customers in Southern Nevada.
The high-speed Internet market is currently served by Sprint's soon-to-be-spun off land-line division, LTD Holding. "I think it is totally inevitable," consultant Frank Dzubeck said of the potential for competition. He heads the Washington, D.C-based Network Communications Architects consulting company.
Sprint's LTD spokeswoman Vicki Soares said she didn't know what would happen if the spectrum was purchased.
"When the companies do separate at some point in 2006, there will be competition," said Soares, "but if we had this spectrum, it could be used in so many ways." She conceded, however, that "if it was used for wireless, it would probably go to the (Sprint Nextel) wireless division."
The entire spectrum equals 6 megahertz of bandwidth and includes 20 low-power television channels. It was valued at around $9 million for a 30-year lease, according to two external studies commissioned by the station, Axtell said.
Any revenue from the spectrum lease will be used to finance Channel 10's move into its new digital studio. Axtell said the station might receive less than the $9 million because KLVX is requiring that some of the spectrum be used for educational and homeland security broadcasts.
The EBS licensed spectrum was once used primarily for educational programming for schools. New rules passed by the Federal Communication Commission earlier this year have pushed the educational spectrum owners to enter into leases with private companies. Nationwide, the private entities leasing the spectrum have mostly used it for broadband wireless. Sprint Nextel now controls about 70 percent of the licenses in the U.S. for the educational spectrum and its sister spectrum, broadband radio service (BRS).
"We have negotiations with 11 perspective bidders," Axtell said, noting that only Sprint and the Kirkland, Wash.-based startup Clearwire have submitted their interest in writing. Clearwire offers wireless-broadband services in markets in Oregon, California, Minnesota, Texas and Florida, and has announced plans to enter into 20 more markets this year.
"It has been classified for broadband," Axtell said of KLVX's spectrum. The lease is expected to be signed shortly before, or just after, the beginning of next year, the Channel 10 general manager said.
http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2005/10/28/news/news04.txt
