Last week, the Consumer Electronics Association submitted a filing with the Federal Communications Commission calling on the agency to initiate an action to free up more spectrum, singling out the nearly 300 MHz controlled by TV broadcasters as an area ripe for reallocation.

Anyone who remembers the tooth-and-nail (and ultimately unsuccessful) [fight the National Association of Broadcaster (NAB) waged against last year's campaign to open the white spaces knows that the lobby won't take this lying down. And, true to form, the NAB lashed back this week, calling CEA's study "primarily an academic exercise."

As it moves to develop a national broadband plan, the FCC has asked interested parties to submit comments on how to tackle the spectrum shortage, which the chairman has made it plain he intends to address.

Legislation is working its way through the House and Senate that would require the FCC and National Telecommunications Information Administration to take a thorough inventory of the current public- and private-sector spectrum allocations with an eye toward reshuffling the nation's policy to support things like mobile broadband and public safety.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Rebecca Arbogast said that wresting spectrum away from broadcasters, as the FCC is understood to be considering, could take an act of Congress.

In any case, should the FCC advance such a recommendation in February, when it presents its national broadband plan to lawmakers, the opposition is likely to be swift and vocal. Whether the decision falls to Congress or the FCC, the NAB will wage a vigorous campaign to hold onto the spectrum it currently controls.

At the FCC's meeting next month, the commission is set to consider another top priority for the wireless industry, which is to streamline the process of securing authorization to erect new cell towers.