TV spectrum auction: Opportunity at risk
June 3rd, 2007When broadcasters shut down analog TV service in 2009, returning a prime portion of the public airwaves to the FCC, the nation will have a rare opportunity. After years of falling further behind other industrial nations in broadband penetration, the U.S. now has a chance to build new capacity and create new competition in its broadband market. That opportunity could be wasted, however, if auction rules favor already dominant players.
The spectrum auction, according to Gigi Sohn of Public Knowledge, presents a “legacy-defining moment” for FCC Chairman Kevin Martin:
His agency is about to set the terms of the most valuable auction of spectrum (the public airwaves over which broadcasters and cell phone companies operate) we have yet seen, and likely the last significant auction in our lifetimes. This auction involves a large portion of spectrum that broadcasters are to return as part of the nation’s transition to digital TV. The location and characteristics of this spectrum make it ideal for the development of a third, nationwide broadband Internet provider that could compete with the powerful incumbent telephone and cable companies which control 96 percent of broadband lines in this country. But unless the FCC takes a very different course than it has in past auctions, this valuable resource will most likely end up in the hands of those very companies. Why is that a bad thing? Because the incumbents have no incentive to develop new wireless broadband services that compete with their current wireline services.
• Link: HuffPost