[opendtv] Re: News: The Winds of Spectrum War
- From: Bob Miller <robmxa@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:47:14 -0400
I would like to hear about those "rights" also. A public airing might
see their demise.
Bob Miller
On Sat, Oct 24, 2009 at 10:11 AM, Tom Barry <trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Joel Brinkley's "Defining Vision" book presented the whole
> ATSC/HD/digital transition as a 1980's ploy by broadcasters to put off
> land mobile while grabbing more spectrum rights. Some day we may
> actually know whether he was right.
>
> Things were certainly delayed for awhile. They probably will be delayed
> for a much longer.
>
> Can anybody explain the spectrum rights James Snyder below claims were
> acquired "under the radar"?
>
> - Tom
>
>
>
> Craig Birkmaier wrote:
>> Sounds like the battle lines are being drawn. Broadcasters may have
>> one last chance to feast at the public trough, essentially letting
>> those who need the spectrum they occupy to pay them to vacate.
>>
>> And there are some rather interesting proposals to further consolidate
>> the spectrum occupied by broadcasters so that a free-to air service
>> can live on. It's beginning to sound a bit like a spectrum utility.
>>
>> ;-)
>>
>> But seriously, using about half of the spectrum currently occupied by
>> broadcasters - in particular only UHF frequencies - could be
>> sufficient to create a highly viable free-to-air system, one that
>> could serve both fixed and mobile receivers. Think 480P - a signal
>> that is of sufficient quality to be viewed on large screens (up to
>> 40") yet efficient enough to deliver to mobile devices, and to deliver
>> as many -OR MORE -channels than broadcasters deliver today. The main
>> caveat is no HD for Free to Air. That would require an MPVD
>> subscription, Internet download, or packaged media.
>>
>> My guess is that the folks who really need the spectrum would finance
>> this transition and maybe even help out with siting of transmission
>> facilities using existing towers.
>>
>> The following article discusses one of the proposals made in a WSJ
>> editorial.
>>
>> Regards
>> Craig
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/89258
>>
>> The Winds of Spectrum War
>> 10.22.2009
>>
>>
>> The impetus of the digital TV transition was to free up spectrum for
>> wireless carriers, but what seemed sufficient when the effort began is
>> no longer the case. Air waves are at a premium, and will only become
>> more scarce as unlicensed devices are unleashed and the federal
>> government gets into the physical process of deploying nationwide,
>> wireless broadband.
>>
>> "One of the best places to find inefficiently used spectrum is
>> undoubtedly TV stations," writes Martin Peers, a veteran media
>> reporter with The Wall Street Journal. He goes on to make a pitch for
>> further TV signal consolidation, freeing up even more spectrum:
>>
>> "Broadcasters are allocated channels of spectrum that ranges across
>> roughly 300 megahertz of bandwidth. Each station needs only six MHz,
>> and few markets have more than 10 or 20 stations. Much of the spectrum
>> is left unused, because signals interfere if they are too close
>> together."
>>
>> Certain cellular technology could overcome the interference issues, he
>> says. The government could underwrite another channel realignment,
>> providing much-needed funds to financially strapped broadcasters.
>> Peers cites analyst who said creditors holding broadcast debt would
>> likely be open to the idea, and Comcast "would see the logic in using
>> NBC stations' spectrum for wireless broadband."
>>
>> Peers' message is that Wall Street would take a kinder, gentler
>> approach to broadcasters willing to consider yet another realignment.
>> The responses to Peers illustrate the ongoing chasm between
>> engineering and policy-making. Reader Brett Allen suggests converting
>> TV Chs. 5 and 6 to the FM radio band, although the demand is for
>> wireless communications. Before the current DTV channel realignment
>> even got underway, broadcast engineers suggested setting aside some of
>> the VHF channels for unlicensed devices, rather than having the things
>> programmed to constantly sniff out unused spectrum between channels.
>> Those engineers knew that low VHFs would not work well with digital
>> transmissions. The concept failed to gain FCC attention, though now,
>> several stations transmitting digitally in VHF are moving to UHF
>> channels.
>>
>> Tom Taggart takes issue with another realignment, noting that work
>> remains to be done on the one just completed June 12.
>>
>> "The original assumption, prompted by visions of sugarplums and all
>> that money from the auctions, was that digital TV could be crammed
>> into the remaining channels because lower power would be needed to get
>> the same coverage area as with the analog signal and the digital
>> signal would be less bothered by interference and noise," he wrote.
>> "Neither assumption is proving true."
>>
>> Taggart mentions the VHF-to-UHF migration. That, combined with more
>> translators and low-power TV operations, will more than sufficiently
>> crowd the TV bandwidth, he said.
>>
>> Washington policy analyst James Snider countered that "broadcasters
>> are far closer to cashing in than is generally known. They have won a
>> whole bunch of spectrum rights--under the public radar--that... most
>> laypeople don't know about."
>>
>> Snider, a former fellow at the New America Foundation, a Beltway think
>> tank led by Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, doesn't elaborate on these
>> spectrum rights. He has typically taken the position that broadcasters
>> end up with "the entire windfall of additional spectrum rights"
>> through back-room political machinations.
>>
>> Peers' piece, "Television's Spectral Gold Mine," and the subsequent
>> comments, are available at WSJ.com
>>
>>
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