Buried beneath coverage of our nation’s historic elections Tuesday was the highly anticipated decision by the Federal Communications Commission regarding “white space” on the wireless spectrum. On Nov. 4 the FCC approved a plan to expand the use of the airwaves.
The commission’s decision opens “white space” typically used for wireless microphones to devices connected to the web. That spectrum is to be made available to cell phones and laptops connected to the Internet after the national transition to digital television in February 17, 2009.
Cecilia Kang of the Washington Post wrote in FCC Expands Use of Airwaves that high-tech titans Google and Microsoft supported the expansion, while a broad coalition of Disney, broadway producers and churches feared wireless microphones would be disrupted by the competing devices on the same spectrum space.
Leslie Cauley of USA Today quotes the Information Technology Association in her article FCC approves “white space” for broadband” as saying: “This spectrum should become fertile ground for innovation, potentially offering consumers and companies an unlimited variety of applications, devices, networks and more.”
But if you want to really dig in to this topic — and perhaps spot new journalistic opportunities in the white space — don’t miss longtime FCC watcher Drew Clark’s Nov. 4 overview of the recent decision: The Real White Spaces Debate: To Create or Abolish a Market in the Airwaves. There, he also offers links to his earlier key posts on this topic, which are worth reading.
Clark puts this issue in context:
“Until the last days of his chairmanship, [Former FCC chief] Kevin Martin never cared for this somewhat radical notion: allowing techies and community activists to spew electromagnetic frequencies in zones currently occupied (at least ostensibly) by the broadcasters. …As companies involved in the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) get cleared out a large section of radio-frequencies, the next big question remaining is: can they be forced, or enticed, entirely out of the airwaves. With more than 88 percent of individuals receiving television from cable or satellite systems, this isn’t just idle speculation.”
