House urged to fasttrack new separation standard for FM radio

The House of Representatives is urging the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to fasttrack the adoption of a new separation standard for FM radio in the country and pave the way for the opening of the radio industry to more players.

Rep. Joseph Santiago, vice chairman of the House committee on transportation and communications and a former NTC commissioner, said at a recent hearing that the migration from a standard of 800 kilohertz to 400 kHz will solve the problem of how to accommodate new players in the FM radio industry.

"Due to technological advancement, a 400 kHz (separation) will always be feasible. "The only question now for the NTC to address is how do we get to the 400 grade separation? I think that is the issue at hand because inevitably we have to embrace this technology so what we are after is for the NTC to fasttrack the migration to (a) 400 separation," Santiago said.

Santiago made the call following the second deferment of a test broadcast that congressmen called for to determine whether the migration to a 400 kHz-standard was technically feasible. The hearings on a new separation standard for FM radio, conducted jointly by the committees on legislative franchises and transportation and communication, were held after some congressmen complained that grantees of legislative franchises for television and radio stations were unable to operate because they could not secure permits from regulatory agencies like the NTC.

Many of these franchises would lapse even before they were applied because of the backlog in the granting of permits, the congressmen said. One of these grantees, Media One Broadcasting Corp. (Media One), had been given a permit by the NTC, but the permit was revoked last year despite a successful propagation test.

The move to open the FM radio industry, however, is being opposed by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters sa Pilipinas (KBP) which said during previous hearings that shortening the separation gap to 400 kHz would result in the closure of some stations and throw the industry into a slump.

Last week’s test broadcast, which would be conducted by Media One from its transmitter in Mandaluyong, was deferred anew as some congressmen claimed there was no need for a test broadcast that would be "non-conclusive."

Rep. Ted Failon, one of the congressmen opposing the test broadcast, said NTC Commissioner Armi Jane Borje had already informed him that the test broadcast would be inconclusive. "So why conduct a non-conclusive(test)?" Failon asked. The KBP also questioned the guidelines and parameters set for the test broadcast, even as it said the migration to 400 kHz would be detrimental to the growth of the industry.