Tech companies want unused TV airwaves for high-speed Web service
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Microsoft Corp., Google Inc. and other technology companies are bumping into resistance from U.S. television broadcasters as they seek regulatory approval to deliver high-speed Internet service over unused television airwaves.
The technology companies, which have submitted a prototype device to the Federal Communications Commission for testing, say their aim is to make broadband Internet connections accessible and affordable to millions more Americans.
Broadcasters, though, fear the unproven device could interfere with TV service, and even some technology experts have reservations about how well the device will actually perform. Matters could get even more complicated, broadcasters say, when the industry switches from analog to digital signals in 2009.
At the center of this dispute are unused and unlicensed TV airwaves, part of the spectrum known as ``white spaces.'' These white spaces are located between channels 2 and 51 on televisions that aren't hooked up to satellite or cable, though use of these services would not preclude anyone from accessing the Internet over unused spectrum in their region.
``This is some prime spectrum real estate,'' said Ben Scott, policy director for Free Press, a national nonpartisan public interest research group, which supports using the public airwaves for Internet service.
In a nutshell, the technology companies want to beam Internet access through the white space and into computers and mobile devices. And they argue rural Americans would benefit greatly because the technology enables Internet service to remote areas at a fraction of the cost of cable- and telephone-based subscription services.
``This is Wi-Fi on steroids,'' Scott said.
Scott Blake Harris, an attorney representing a loose coalition of technology companies that typically compete with one another, said he believes the FCC should authorize this technology so long as its proponents can prove it will not disrupt TV programming.
But broadcasters want the FCC to proceed cautiously.
The National Association of Broadcasters, which represents more than a thousand local TV stations as well as major broadcasters including Walt Disney Co.'s ABC division and Univision Communications Inc., insists the industry is not against the new technology -- only worried about unintended consequences.
``If they (the technology companies) are wrong, once those devices get introduced that means that people won't be able to get clear television pictures,'' said NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton.
Shure Inc., a manufacturer of wireless microphones, has also expressed concerns, saying use of white space for Internet services could cause interference with audio systems at concerts and sporting events.
Potential pitfalls aside, proponents of the new technology -- including Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp. and Philips Electronics North America Corp., a division of Netherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics NV -- say it could also spur innovation.
Paul Brownell, a government relations manager at Dell, said white-space spectrum also could be used to stream video and audio throughout a house without running wires all over the place. The company is interested in building computers that would come preprogrammed to recognize Internet service delivered via white space.
``These are all on the drawing board right now,'' he said, assuming the FCC approves unlicensed usage of white spaces.
Advocates said the white-space spectrum is too valuable to be left idle because the television airwaves can transmit better signal quality through obstacles and to a wider geographic area. In rural areas, the new technology is an attractive alternative to phone-, cable- or satellite-based Internet service because it would not require expensive new infrastructure to be built, they said.
The lack of infrastructure is a key reason why many rural areas lack high-speed Internet service. A recent Pew Internet & American Life Project found that only 30 percent of rural residents have high-speed Internet as compared with 49 percent for suburban residents and 52 percent for urban Americans.
Amid all this enthusiasm, however, there are skeptics.
Dorothy Robyn, a principal with the Brattle Group, a Cambridge, Mass.-based economic consulting firm, said the technology benefits could be overstated. Specifically, she questioned whether the device could deliver good-quality Internet service over long distances.
For this reason, she said licensing -- and auctioning off -- the white-space spectrum is critical to ensure that it gets used in the best and most efficient way. And there's an added benefit, Robyn said: if signal interference ever became an issue, broadcasters could point to the source of the problem.
