FCC eyes 'over' 150MHz of TV airwaves for broadband

most != best

just because america has the most tv in the world I doubt that it classifies as best... Anyone seen fox news?

Paris, because well, who the fuck cares!?

RF pimp

How is another 150MHz of spectrum going to give everybody fast broadband? Even if mankind invented a holographic electromagnetic modulation that improved efficiency 1000x... Well, high performance fiber optics are here now and the telcos aren't rushing to deliver that. Levine and Kirjner saying that we shouldn't rely on new tech says a lot about US bandwidth plans.

Why steal the bandwidth from broadcast TV? Because everyone uses cable TV instead? Cable TV coax has far more bandwidth yet customers receive a few megabits and threats of disconnection for abusive utilization.

The way the FCC does their job, "the country that has the best broadcast TV in the world" is too lofty of a target. All of those $40 DTV upgrade coupons exempted high-definition tuners, thereby ensuring that antiquated MPEG2 streams will encumber our airwaves for as long as the old copper wires trickle data to our homes.

If there is excess bandwidth...

Let's see more tv channels.

My local (las vegas) TV environment has over 20 channels, some in spanish, one in korean. Two of them are shopping channels, a couple run great old movies, two others show classic TV shows.

So the government wants us to PAY for TV also? We need more TV channels, not less.

@vodoo trucker: the "Free" airwaves were assigned to radio and TV broadcasters based on a premise that they would meet certain standards of free entertainment and news as well as public service requirements. When bandwidth is auctioned off, it becomes a license to steal.

FCC eyes 150mHz of TV spectrum

I am curious as to where they expect to get that spectrum. Originally, TV channels went out to 83, The upper channels went to 800 MHz cell and mobile use. which made the upper TV channel 69. And now with the DTV conversion, and last year's FCC auction, the upper TV channel is now 52. So then, where is that spectrum supposed to come from????

Broadcast engineers have already recognized that the low VHF channels (2-6) are not DTV friendly, and that even the other VHF channels (7-13) have some issues. It seems that DTV is at its best when it is on a UHF channel. I personally think that the FCC should have recognized that DTV was not going to work on low VHF channels, and assign channels 2, 3 and 4 for low power analog translators. And then, there are a few people that would like to see channels 5 and 6 used to expand the FM band. That opportunity has been lost.

Now, as I understand it, in the US, a DTV channel can broadcast multiple (supposedly up to 6) separate programs. Not of all that capability is utilized as my own local area exemplifies.

For example, in my area, there are 14 separate OTA (over the air) stations, two of them I have difficulty getting a stable signal, and that is a consequence of my antenna limitations (cheap bastard landlord).So, of those stations that I can receive (12):

3 stations (two of them PBS by the way) deliver 4 distinct programs on their associated channel;

1 station delivers 3 distinct programs over its channel;

3 stations deliver two distinct programs on each of their channels;

2* stations that deliver the same program (one HD and one SD stream) on their channel;

and 3 stations deliver only ONE program over their channel.

Does the FCC plan to make some of these broadcasters either offer additional programming; or force a single program delivering station to vacate its channel and share one of the other channels??? (I can just hear the 'wailing and gnashing of teeth' if some GM gets a letter that says that he HAS to accommodate A COMPETITOR ON HIS CHANNEL.) Do they expect to move analog translators out of the UHF band, and move stations around??? I know that the broadcasters will scream like hell if they have to expend any more money out of their pockets to make changes to their transmitters and antennas AGAIN. So, again, I must ask, wher does the FCC expect to get this spectrum???????

* One of these stations recently shut off its SD stream, and now joins the ranks of a single program per channel.

Getting the spectrum back...

Yea, this is a REALLY bad idea. Have any of these fools taken the time to look through the MOUNTAINS of responses from the AUDIO INDUSTRY about the analog-to-digital swap that BUTCHERED our available spectrum for wireless microphones?

Doubt it.

I just attended a huge conference on lighting for the theatre and film industries. The newest and shiniest kit was ALL designed to use wireless data signaling for the various functions. Thats all well and good... But what if this wireless-internet-for-all shite happens? All that kit may be useless.

I DO think I know how the fools at the FCC intend to 'recover' that spectrum which they sold for 1995 dollars ($$), and now will buy back for 2010 dollars ($$$$$$$$$$$). Compression. If the different TV stations of a given region all were to broadcast from the same tower, the signals could be all sent on the same digital frequency... And the individual channels could be digitally compressed so they would all fit within a current 6mhz band of a single TV channel.

That is a great idea... IF you don't give a rip about the quality of the picture, or that the individual stations are ALREADY putting multiple signals down an existing channel for 'extra services' like 15 languages of the same program.

This just proves that the FCC has no real idea of how the tech is being used... And they are simply being dazzled by the shiny money waved at them from the AT&T group that wants even more monopoly of the air. But listen to the howling from the public when they won't be able to hear their favorite show or even their preacher on Sunday b/c the wireless microphone no longer works. Its all been sold to AT&T for the internet.

@Timothy Wright

But the bandwidth-sharing optimists run afoul of the physicists. According to the latter, there is a fundamental ceiling to the amount of data one can transmit on a given radio band, based on the minimum amount of energy needed to transmit a 1 or 0 and have it reliably picked up at the other end. And the physicists have the data to back up their theories.