Accused 'hoarders' push back; tell legislators NAB claims a 'flat wrong'

It took a couple days but the cable industry--via the NCTA--and satellite service provider Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) have rebutted the NAB's contention that they're hoarding spectrum that could be used for a wireless-centric national broadband plan.

"The NAB's claim (that cable operators are hoarding or warehousing wireless spectrum) is flat wrong," said NCTA EVP James Assey to ranking members of congressional commerce committees. "It is nothing more than a finger-pointing exercise transparently designed to distract policymakers from the important task of evaluating national spectrum policy."

Dish, via its EVP and general counsel, R. Stanton Dodge, took a less strident approach in a letter obtained by FierceCable: "With all due respect, the NAB is wrong."

The NAB, not surprisingly, stood by its claim, especially regarding cable operators. "Don't take our word for it--just ask Verizon (NYSE: VZ) CEO Ivan Seidenberg, who said in an April 2010 interview that 'cable companies have bought spectrum over the last 10 or 15 years that's been lying fallow," NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton told The Hill.

For more:
- see the NCTA's letter
- The Hill has this story

Related articles:
NAB crunches Time Warner Cable for spectrum hoarding
Got spectrum? NAB wants to know why