[opendtv] News: Tech firms win victory with FCC 'white spaces' vote
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 04:25:58 -0500
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/FCC-approves-use-white-spaces/story.aspx?guid={B1A11E35-C02B-4B66-9918-A1D5F1A3D1EE}
Tech firms win victory with FCC 'white spaces' vote
Google, Microsoft pressed for approval to use TV bands for Internet services
By John Letzing, MarketWatch
Last update: 6:47 p.m. EST Nov. 4, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Large technology companies including
Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. won a years-long, intensive lobbying
battle with television broadcasters and telecom companies on Tuesday
when the Federal Communications Commission voted to authorize the
unlicensed use of "white spaces" spectrum.
Companies including Google, Microsoft, Intel Corp. and others have
been pressing the FCC to allow the unlicensed use of the so-called
white spaces, which they argue will dramatically expand access to the
Internet.
But the companies have been countered by a wide array of opponents,
including the National Association of Broadcasters, as well as the
largest U.S. television networks and telecom companies including
Sprint Nextel Corp.
Dolly Parton sent a letter fretting over whether white-spaces use
will interfere with wireless microphones used for live performances.
Opponents say unlicensed use of the white spaces -- bands of spectrum
that will be freed up following the switch to digital-television
broadcasts next year -- may interfere with TV reception and wireless
microphones.
However, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin noted that the approval of the
rules authorizing use of the white spaces include provisions meant to
protect TV broadcasts and microphones. For example, Martin said, any
device offered by a technology company for use on the white spaces
will have to go through a "rigorous certification process."
Martin also noted that FCC engineers already had taken the "extra
step" of undertaking months of testing of white-spaces devices, to
determine whether they can be used without interfering with other
broadcasts and microphones.
Google co-founder Larry Page wrote in an online posting that the
FCC's approval of white spaces use is "a clear victory for Internet
users and anyone who wants good wireless communications."
"Google has worked hard on this matter with other tech companies and
public-interest groups because we think that this spectrum will help
put better and faster Internet connections in the hands of the
public," he said.
Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, added
that the unanimous FCC vote "ushers in a new era of wireless
broadband innovation."
"We look forward to playing our part in helping to realize the
wireless broadband potential of the white spaces," he said.
Bill Gates on the line
The politically powerful National Association of Broadcasters
criticized the FCC's decision, and issued a statement late Tuesday
vowing that "today's vote is just the beginning of a fight on behalf
of the 110 million households that rely on television for news,
entertainment and lifesaving emergency information."
NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said in a statement that "every American
who values interference-free TV should be concerned by today's
Commission vote."
Last month, Martin signaled his intention to bring the white-spaces
matter to a vote, spurring the NAB to launch a campaign to stave off
the move by forcing the commission to seek out further public comment.
The NAB's campaign has enlisted everyone from Sen. Hillary Clinton,
D-N.Y., to entertainer Dolly Parton.
Clinton joined a number of other lawmakers in publicly questioning
whether the FCC should move forward quickly on allowing unlicensed
use of the white spaces, while Parton sent a letter to the agency
fretting over whether white-spaces use will interfere with wireless
microphones used for live performances -- including her planned
musical version of the film "9 to 5."
The political back-and-forth over the white spaces also recently
prompted a personal phone call to Martin from Bill Gates, Microsoft's
chairman and co-founder. Gates encouraged the FCC chairman to press
ahead on opening up the white spaces for unlicensed use, even though
Gates has stepped back from the software giant's day-to-day
operations.
Microsoft, along with Google and others, stands to benefit greatly
from the use of the white spaces. That's because the broadly
available but unused spectrum could enable much wider access to the
Internet services that they offer.
However, Microsoft's efforts to contribute to the white spaces
lobbying effort have not always been constructive.
For example, prototypes submitted by Microsoft for white-spaces
testing by FCC engineers have suffered technical glitches, handing
ammunition to the tech companies' opponents. See related story.
FCC engineers have spent months doing laboratory and field testing of
prototypes designed to prove that unlicensed use of the white spaces
won't interfere with TV broadcasts. Those prototypes have been
submitted by Microsoft, Philips Electronics NV, Motorola and closely
held Adaptrum Inc.
John Letzing is a MarketWatch reporter based in San Francisco.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
Other related posts:
