As wireless mics seem to be important to broadcasters, it would seem logical to assign several white space frequencies for their unlicensed use.
How many frequencies are used by these mics today? Obviously they must be reasonably agile as the available frequencies change from market to market.
We are talking about a huge chunk of spectrum from VHF through 600 MHz. There is plenty of room there to create multiple licensed and unlicensed services.
Then again, there is enough room there for the broadcasters to use this spectrum efficiently to develop a competitive multi-channel service similar to Freeview, but with the ability to serve individual markets as well.
Personally, I would prefer to see the spectrum assigned to broadcasters USED by broadcasters to develop a multichannel service with a free tier similar to Freeview) and the ability to deliver premium subscription services as well. At the same time we could shutter the FCC and get rid of ALL legislated and regulatory protections associated with the use of this spectrum.
I would do this by setting up regional broadcast spectrum utilities as I have discussed before. The content moguls would pay prevailing market rates for bits, and hopefully they would do the same on cable and DBS, choosing either to offer commercial free subscription channels for which subscribers would pay, or advertiser supported channels for which they would pay for carriage.
Regards Craig At 9:29 AM -0400 10/18/07, Hunold, Ken wrote:
How many people on this list think that there are "unused" portions of the broadcast spectrum? John Wilke pointed out earlier that wireless microphone users are just one group that shares this spectrum. I've heard it said (and have no reason to doubt) that there are about 1000 channels of wireless microphones within a mile or two of the Empire State Building, clustered more or less around a wide street called Broadway. Those users are very creative, and are very much good neighbors to the other users of that spectrum. Any major sporting event or entertainment event always has dozens of channels of RF in use. While they are not broadcasters in the traditional sense, these operators often provide live programming to broadcasters, so they are very much "brothers in arms" in this fight. There is a very real threat from unlicensed devices to these users of the spectrum. Their lives haven't been made any easier by the allocation of two channels to each broadcaster for the duration of the DTV transition, but at least they know where the broadcasters and the neighboring theatres are. You don't have to think too long to come up with a circumstance where some "broadband device" would be turned on and how it could be legitimately considered "interference," not "competition." Ken -----Original Message----- From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Craig Birkmaier Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 8:36 AM To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [opendtv] Re: Did I get this one right? At 9:53 PM -0400 10/17/07, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:Might seem incestuous, but if the white spaces are administered intelligently, I think the scheme will work fine. Broadcasters, or ISPs, would not let their transmissions interfere with legitimate otherusers of the spectrum.Based on the responses to this thread. one fact seems apparent: The white spaces have significant potential for the delivery of new services that might be used by a significantly larger portion of the population that DTV. One must look at this situation from two related perspectives: 1. Protection of existing users/services is very important; as with any proposal to share spectrum, the key issue will be how much interference can be tolerated. This is the most difficult issue to resolve, as there is plenty of room for FUD here. At the moment, broadcasters are using their considerable clout to cast doubts on the ability of unlicensed devices to operate in this spectrum, without interference with DTV. 2. licensing is a viable method to control the alternative uses of this spectrum, but it also opens up a can of worms related to the value of the spectrum that is being shared. If licensing is essentially free, as is the case with DTV, then the main costs will be license fees and the lawyers who will swarm around the opportunity to insert themselves into the process. On the other hand, if there are significant user fees associated with the licenses, then the use of this spectrum by alternative services becomes another form of indirect taxation. Current incumbents, both the broadcasters using the TV spectrum and the companies that provide broadband services today (primarily cable and telco) would like any alternative use of the spectrum to be regulated and presumably encumbered with user fees so as to make these alternative uses less competitive with existing products/services. One might even make a case for broadcasters to develop broadband services in this spectrum, which would give them a back channel comparable to what cable and IPTV systems can offer. But this is essentially a valuable new franchise, not an extension of the existing TV franchise, so it would seem appropriate for any licensed alternative use of the white spaces to include use fees. On the other hand, history demonstrates that the allocation of spectrum for unlicensed uses can stimulate not only widespread use of the unlicensed spectrum, but significant new markets for the devices that use this spectrum. One need only look at the success of wireless phones (for attachment to land lines) and WiFi. So, as usual, the real debate here is about protection - not from interference, but from potential competition. The regulated incumbents are once again exerting their influence with the politicians and regulators to encumber a public resource with regulations (and perhaps user fees), to prevent marketplace competition. I would prefer to see a different discussion: How can broadcasters re-invent their business and use all of their assigned spectrum efficiently to compete effectively with cable and DBS, rather than using regulation to generate revenues from competitors, while the DTV spectrum lies (mostly) fallow. Regards Craig ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. ----------------------------------------- This message (including any attachments) may contain confidential information intended for a specific individual and purpose. If you are not the intended recipient, delete this message. 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