How FCC Spectrum Auctions Push Broadcasters Toward Internet-First Delivery

The ground under broadcast distribution is moving, and the question isn’t whether C-band was reliable—it’s how we keep that reliability as the FCC clears and auctions more of it. We dive into the real tradeoffs facing stations of every size, from small-market radio shops without diverse fiber routes to major TV groups juggling national feeds. Along the way, we unpack why C-band earned its reputation, where Ku-band helps and hurts, and how to design delivery paths that survive storms, backhoes, and the odd cloud hiccup without your audience ever noticing.

From leased analog lines to microwave relays to satellite and now IP, the throughline is simple: everything breaks, so redundancy wins. I walk through practical, field-tested ways to build layered resilience: pair primary fiber with Starlink and a 5G router, bond multiple ISPs, and use protocols like SRT and RIST for secure, resilient transport. We get specific about automated failover, health monitoring, active testing during off-hours, and the runbooks that turn chaos into a two-second blip. If you’ve been skeptical of the public internet for mission-critical delivery, it’s time to revisit the data—today’s multi-path IP can match or beat satellite uptime when designed with path diversity and smart routing.

You’ll hear how larger broadcasters are already sending primary feeds over fiber with satellite or cellular as clean backup, why LEO constellations change rural options, and how to think about cloud dependencies without losing sleep. The goal isn’t a single perfect solution; it’s a hybrid system that spreads risk and recovers fast. Whether you’re planning for the next spectrum shift or upgrading a small station on a tight budget, these tactics help you protect airtime, revenue, and trust.

If this conversation sparks ideas—or pushback—I want to hear it. Send your questions and war stories, share the episode with a colleague who runs the board at 3 a.m., and hit follow so you don’t miss what’s next. If it keeps your signal alive, it belongs here.

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Episode Transcript

Tyler (00:24):
Welcome to Fully Modulated.
I'm Tyler, and today we'retaking a look at the FCC's new
plans to clear and auction offmore of the C-Band spectrum.
Something that's definitelyturned into a hot topic for just

(00:46):
about, I guess, everyone inradio and television and well
the broadcast engineeringcommunity.
As always, uh, just a quickdisclaimer: this show isn't
sponsored by any stations,companies, or networks.
I've been at this since 2014,started as a broadcast engineer
in 2018, and now work on thenetwork side of things in 2025.

(01:09):
So, what you're getting is theperspective of someone who's I
guess seen a lot of changes fromthe engineering trenches.
So let's start at thebeginning.
Why does C-BAN even matter?

(01:30):
Well, it's that chunk ofspectrum from 3.7 to 4.2 GHz.
And it's basically the backbonefor moving signals coast to
coast.
If you're pushing live news,sports, or network feeds, you're
almost certainly relying on aC-band dish somewhere in the

(01:52):
transmission chain.
It's rock solid, especially inbad weather, and nothing has
quite managed to replace it forwide area broadcast reliability.
Those dishes are still gettingthe job done day after day, year
after year.
Now, let's bring it back totoday because the landscape is

(02:18):
shifting once again.
With all the talk about nextgen wireless and the FCC's big
plans for auctioning off more ofthis spectrum, broadcasters
find themselves standing atanother crossroads.
The pressure's growing, thedeadlines are set, and the

(02:38):
questions are getting a lottougher.
Are we headed toward a futurewhere the old C-band workhorse
fades into the background andnew delivery methods take the
spotlight?
Suddenly, it feels likeeverybody from tiny FM stations
in the sticks to giants in thebig cities have some skin in the

(03:01):
game.
Again, it's got a lot it's gota lot of folks on the edge.
When we all had to move to theupper half of the C-BAN after
the last big auction, justmaking that transition took
years and a lot of money.
Not to mention a ton ofretooling at stations of every

(03:24):
size and flavor.
Now what's left to clear iseven tougher.
Sure, people are experimentingwith KU band satellites, but KU,
those are more sensitive tostorms and not always as

(03:45):
reliable as C-Band, especiallyfor critical 24-7 feeds.
And then you've got folkssaying, well, just use fiber.
Great in a perfect world, butlet's be honest, if you're at a
small TV or radio station outwhere the deer outnumbered the

(04:06):
people, that fiber pizzazz isusually more of a nice idea than
a realistic approach.
But before we get too caught upin what's next, I mean it's
worth kind of going back andlooking at where we came from.
The path our signals take hasalways been a moving target.

(04:28):
I mean, think about it.
Early on, radio and TV networksleaned on leased phone lines.
Some of these old networksmoved program feeds on analog
lines with more hum andcrosstalk than Clarity.
People would literally shiptapes and reels through the mail
for syndication.

(04:49):
Then came microwave relays, andeventually that first jumped
the satellite.
When the when C-BAN satellitesreally hit the scene, suddenly
you could sling a live feedacross the continent without
breaking a sweat.
For decades it felt like we hadsolved the problem.

(05:11):
Just put up a dish, dial in theright frequency, and you were
golden.
But this industry is built onchange, right?
We see it every single day.
New codecs, new lines, digitallinks, ISDN, and then everyone

(05:31):
tiptoes in IP.
Now here we are debating if theinternet is solid enough for
Showtime.
This is where that mindsetshift becomes everything.
Because in every era, smartengineers plan for things to
break.

(05:52):
No delivery method has everstood supreme over the other.
Everything from phone lines tosatellite has had its fair share
of outages, surprises, andtechnical gremlins.
So no matter what delivery pathyou pick, failover's not a nice
thing to have.

(06:12):
It's the only way to keepthings moving.
When Lightning takes out a dishor construction crews slice
through your fiber in thestreet, true failover today
doesn't mean just plugging in abackup and forgetting it.
It's about building redundancy.
Fiber, Starlink, 5G routers,you name it.

(06:35):
And actively testing thosebackups so they're ready when
you need them.
Kill your main feed in the offhours, of course.
Watch how fast your systemflips over and fix what's slow.
If you're only finding out yourbackup feed is broken when the
main goes down, you don'tactually have a backup.

(06:57):
And really none of this is new.
What's different now is justhow many ways you can actually
create the redundancy that youneed.
It used to be uh you'd have abackup satellite dish or maybe a
second microwave hop, but nowyou can mix and match

(07:20):
terrestrial internet, multipleISPs, cellular, LEO satellites,
combine them as needed, layerthem up, and suddenly you're not
waiting for one fragile link tohold it together.
Broadcast engineering in thismoment is really about knowing
old habits, embracing what worksfrom the past, but not getting

(07:43):
stuck there.
It's about watching for newtools, testing the heck out of
everything, and not being shyabout breaking your own setup on
purpose just to see if itbounces back okay.
So, where does this leave us?
It actually sets up the perfectsegue into the conversation

(08:06):
that, honestly, morebroadcasters need to be
comfortable with using thepublic internet for delivery.
I know.
Seriously, for years, the ideaof putting anything critical
over public IP was a joke.
Outages, last mile issues,weird latency spikes.

(08:29):
I used to be one of theskeptics, but it's not like that
anymore.
Technology has caught up.
I mean, these days you caneasily have a setup with two or
three separate internet links,completely diverse.
Run, let's say, you run a fiberline, tack on a Starlink

(08:51):
satellite dish for backup, throwin a 5G router into the mix,
and now all your systems canshuffle traffic between them on
the fly.
It's actually wild how wellthis stuff actually works,
especially even compared to justfive years ago.
Broadcasters, you've got tostop being so scared of internet

(09:11):
delivery.
Sure, IP had a rocky pass, butthe reliability now is often on
par, if not better, thansatellite.
Given decent redundancy.
Engineers are cobbling togetherfailover chains that just

(09:32):
switch over automatically if onepath drops.
These are managed serviceproviders out.
You know, there are managedservice providers out there who
specialize in keeping programaudio up no matter what.
Even if someone's digging upcables all over town.
That uh backhoe fade.

(09:55):
And if you're worried aboutwhat happens if AWS goes down or
one of the big cloud guys has abad day, that's honestly a
problem for the contentdistributor or platform.
The station engineer doesn'thave to lose any sleep over
something out of their hands.
As long as connections at thestation are as bulletproof as

(10:20):
you can make them, you can resteasy.
Of course, every system has itsuh-oh moments.
Fiber, satellite, even cellnetworks, they all go down at
some point.
That's it's just the reality.
But we've got way more ways tokeep things on the air now.

(10:41):
You want resiliency?
It's about using the besttools.
Spread your risk, use them all.
This isn't about some perfectmagic bullet solution anymore.
It's about using the best toolsfrom every tool belt and
building real layered redundancyinto your station's workflow.

(11:03):
People are talking about hybridsystems, mixing fiber, IP,
delivery, satellite, even LEO,constellations like Starlink and
Amazon.
And yeah, some largerbroadcasters are already sending
maiden feeds over fiber withsatellite or 5G as a backup, and
it's working better than mostof us ever expected.

(11:26):
Back in the internet, can't dolive days.
So when the FCC clears moreC-BAN, it's not the end.
It's a new curve in the road.
And if you're willing to adapt,try new combinations, and make
resilience your number one goal,you're gonna be just fine.

(11:48):
If not, well, radio's alwaysgot room for another wild story
about the day everything failed,but the audience somehow never
knew.
That brings us to the bigpicture.
The C-band debate is writingthe next chapter of how
America's radio and televisionsignals reached our audiences.

(12:08):
If you're wrestling with any ofthis at your day job or just
nerding out over the technology,don't hesitate to get in touch.
I'd love to hear what you'regoing through at your station or
what your plans are, thesolutions that you've found, or
the new tools you're using tokeep the signals moving.
Thanks for hanging out with mefor another episode of Fully

(12:31):
Modulated.
Drop a comment or shoot me anemail to Tyler at
Fulymodulated.com.
Don't forget to follow FullyModulated on Facebook,
Instagram, and Blue Sky.
There's always something new tofigure out in this business.
And I mean, we'll be herediving into it.
I'll catch you next week.