[radiolivre] open spectrum

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: open spectrum - follow-up from OM6
From:    "Ellie Rennie" <ERennie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:    Wed, May 16, 2007 11:17 pm
To:      OURMEDIA-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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I raised the issue of 'open spectrum' during the digital television
plenary roundtable at OM6. I am keen to know what other people in the
network think about it so have pasted a link to a news article (by me)
which summarises its relevance to community media. You can read the start
of the article below.
As you will see (if you follow the link), this is an issue that our
friends at Prometheus Radio (US) seem to be getting active on - and I
always find their work somewhat 'visionary'.
Comments and gentle criticism welcome.
Ellie.

****************************************************************
Excerpt only. Full article can be found at:
http://www.creative.org.au/webboard/results.chtml?filename_num=150158


The Open Spectrum movement sees a future in which the community can
directly access the airwaves, writes ELLIE RENNIE, and Dewayne Hendricks
is showing how it can be done...

IN 2010, or thereabouts, the Australian government plans to switch-off
analogue television transmitters. The electromagnetic spectrum, or radio
waves, currently occupied by the free-to-air analogue channels will be
vacated. You might call it an eviction, except that most of the current
tenants (the commercial and national television broadcasters) have already
been given the equivalent of rent-controlled penthouse suites on another
band reserved for digital television. So what will happen to the old
"analogue" spectrum? Will it be auctioned off to the highest bidder or
left for media squatters to inhabit?

The media experts have been assuming that the leftover channels will be
used for new digital television services. But recent developments in the
US and UK indicate that the vacant radio waves may be put to a different
use altogether. Ofcom (the UK's Office of Communications) is currently
undertaking a "Licence-Exemption Framework Review" which proposes to set
aside greater bandwidth for devices that can transmit information without
needing permission from the regulator. In other words, we may see new
portions of the airwaves turned into a public commons which anyone can use
as long as they comply with some basic rules. "Licence exempt" does not
mean that you can start transmitting a new London-wide television channel
from a bedsit in Brixton * at least not in the near future. But it may
pave the way for new communications technologies that will transform the
communications landscape in ways that are perhaps even more radical.



To read more go to:
http://www.creative.org.au/webboard/results.chtml?filename_num=150158










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