White Space Spectrum

Unused portions of the wireless spectrum, currently being hoarded, as explained by David Bollier.

URL = http://onthecommons.org/node/818

"Even as demand for WiFi and other unlicensed wireless Internet services soars, commercial broadcasters are trying to lock up some prime, unused slices of the public airwaves for themselves. Recall that the broadcasting industry is in the midst of making a transition from analog to digital television transmission – a move that Congress enabled by giving broadcasters two sets of spectrum for free, simultaneous use during the course of the transition, now slated to be completed by February 17, 2009.

But because broadcasters don’t need two sets of spectrum – for analog and digital signals -- Congress declared in December that unused spectrum between channels 52 and 69 should be put up for auction to commercial wireless services. The decisive question now is whether the broadcast industry will succeed in hanging on to unused spectrum by hoodwinking Congress and the FCC with bogus arguments.

In an attempt to blow the whistle on broadcasters’ deceptions, the New America Foundation’s Wireless Future Program has released a flurry of fact sheets and issue briefs to explain how the “white space" in the TV spectrum could be used much more efficiently, and for public benefit. It’s time for Congress and the FCC to step in and put an end to the political manipulations over who shall control the unused, unassigned portions of the “analog TV spectrum." (http://onthecommons.org/node/818)