Qualcomm Protests Digital TV Delay

Bruce V. Bigelow1/21/09

President Obama’s proposed delay of the Feb. 17 conversion to digital television has triggered a  protest from San Diego’s Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM). According to this report, a letter signed by CEO Paul Jacobs sent Monday to House and Senate leaders says Qualcomm has spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” preparing to launch its MediaFLO video service in 15 new markets. MediaFLO uses the part of the spectrum to be vacated by broadcasters. Qualcomm asks the lawmakers to maintain the change as planned, and if that isn’t possible, to enforce the deadline on nine TV stations in Boston, Houston, Miami and San Francisco. That would at least allow Qualcomm to launch a key part of its MediaFLO service as planned on Feb. 18

Bruce V. Bigelow is the editor of Xconomy San Diego. You can e-mail him at bbigelow@xconomy.com or call (619) 669-8788