Op-Ed: With FCC's C-Band Auction on the Horizon, Broadcasters Need Proven, Cost-Effective Alternatives

Op-Ed: With FCC's C-Band Auction on the Horizon, Broadcasters Need Proven, Cost-Effective AlternativesThose currently reliant on satellite must explore moving to IP-based solutionsBy Malik Khan, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, LTN

Tuesday, November 25, 2025 - 9:53 am

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Last week, the FCC unanimously voted to move forward with its plan to reallocate spectrum in the upper C-band (3.98 GHz to 4.2 GHz). That includes auctioning 100 MHz - and up to 180 MHz - of spectrum no later than July 2027.

LTN Executive Chairman/Co-Founder Malik Khan previously held top executive roles at Motorola, Sitara Networks, Converged Access, and NexTone.

These developments underline the urgency for broadcasters to find trusted, proven, and cost-effective alternatives as the remaining C-band satellite spectrum is repurposed.

Many networks and station groups that we work with have already decided to migrate a large portion or all of their channels away from satellite to an alternative model harnessing broadcast-grade IP video-distribution technology. Transport Stream Over Internet Protocol (IP-TS) B2B distribution offers more flexibility than satellite and much-needed cost- and availability-certainty, which will become harder for satellite-reliant broadcasters to achieve as pressure on spectrum availability grows.

Just this year, Tennis Channel and Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) joined TelevisaUnivision and MSG Networks in transitioning their channels to LTN's broadcast-grade IP-TS multicast network. This is part of a wider trend that proves the readiness of IP transport.

At LTN alone, we've seen a 45% annual growth in channel count over the past nine years, now delivering nearly 8,000 channels and millions of live events annually over our purpose-built IP network, which is present in every U.S. TV market. We've delivered successful satellite to IP migrations for nearly 2,000 Tier 1 broadcasters, MVPD/vMVPD headends, and content-owner sites and now reach affiliates across 98% of pay-TV households.

Our experience shows that it's becoming faster and easier to migrate from satellite to IP. The infrastructure is already in place with purpose-built, broadcast-grade IP networks delivering video at

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/11/25/op-ed-with-fccs-c-band-auction-...
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