DTV Transition & Media Reform: Publications, Events and More

Wireless Future Program event with Larry Page in CNET | 'Google's Larry Page Goes to Washington'

Communications — Thu, 22 May 2008 09:46:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Google co-founder Larry Page was in Washington Thursday trying to strum up support to open unused broadcast TV spectrum to wireless devices. Page came to D.C. to meet with Congressional leaders and the Federal Communications Commission to talk about allowing device manufacturers to design products that use spectrum known as "white space." This spectrum, which is in the 700MHz band of frequency, sits between analog TV channels and is not being used for anything more than a buffer between broadcast TV channels.

Google and other Silicon Valley companies have been lobbying the FCC and other lawmakers to free up this spectrum, which is ideal for sending data wirelessly over long distances and penetrating through walls. Some of the 700MHz spectrum has already been auctioned off by the FCC earlier this year. And companies such as Verizon Wireless, which won a big chunk of the spectrum, plan to use it to build a next generation wireless broadband network.

Page spoke in the morning at an event hosted by the Washington think tank, the New America Foundation. He emphasized that opening up the white space spectrum for unlicensed use could have a huge impact on the U.S. economy and economies throughout the world, if other countries adopted similar spectral policy. He also said that it made little sense for the U.S. to allow this resource to go unused. LINK

Wireless Future Program event with Larry Page in Washington Post | 'Google's Page Talks Wireless Policy'

Communications — Thu, 22 May 2008 08:52:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...[T]he soft-spoken and baby-faced Page met with key lawmakers including House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) and policy makers at the Federal Communications Commission to push an idea to use empty television broadcast spectrum, called white spaces, for high-speed wireless connections by anyone, anywhere in the U.S. That spectrum will be freed up with the conversion of analog to digital television in February 2009. "There's a huge opportunity to make this stuff work," Page said in a discussion this morning hosted by the New American Foundation. LINK

Wireless Future Program event with Larry Page in Broadcasting & Cable | 'Google's Page Fights for White Spaces'

Communications — Thu, 22 May 2008 04:27:00 -0400

New America in the News:
In an event hosted by New America Foundation, "... Page argued that opening up vacant TV spectrum after the February 2009 switch to digital TV will help to spread broadband as well as boost Google's bottom line, calling opening up the white spaces "the most important thing the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] can do this year to promote broadband deployment and tech-sector innovation..." LINK

Michael Calabrese in San Jose Mercury News | Auction Takes 'First Step' to Open-Access Wireless

Communications — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:01:00 -0400

New America in the News:

San Jose Mercury News | Auction Takes 'First Step' to Open-Access Wireless

. . . Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation, said Verizon's ability to subsidize certain handsets gives it enormous market power in determining which devices and applications will ultimately become popular with consumers.

But Calabrese said the auction did help achieve the goals of increased openness and innovation. "We need to extend these consumer protections, but this was an important first step," he said. . .

Sascha Meinrath in the New York Times politics blog | "Wanted: A More Digital Congress"

Communications — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:12:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Wanted: A More Digital Congress (New York Times)

. . . Another way to share content online with voters, said Sascha Meinrath of the New America Foundation, is including access to a program like Google Documents, which allows multiple users to edit the same document. The idea is that if congressmen put a preliminary draft of a bill in an open source program on their sites, then specialists out in their home districts could amend the language or add information that hadn’t been addressed for the legislator to consider.

“We should be tapping into that expertise,” Mr. Meinrath said. “Peer production is a massive untapped resource.” . . .

Michael Calabrese in RCR Wireless | State's Role in Consumer Protection Bill Pondered

Communications — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 11:11:00 -0500

New America in the News:

RCR Wireless News | State's Role in Consumer Protection Bill Pondered

. . . "Allowing consumers to purchase unsubsidized handsets without a long-term wireless service plan, and at a fee no higher than subsidized wireless plans, would begin to knock down those obstacles and promote increased consumer freedom in the wireless market," said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation. . .

Broadcast to Broadband

Ron Tang — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Although much public attention has focused on the US digital TV transition -- and the resulting reallocation of analog TV channels by auction to wireless carriers -- the US Federal Communications Commission will decide how to reallocate an even larger swath of prime TV band spectrum this year: the unused “white space” between occupied DTV channels. This reallocation of unused spectrum from broadcasting to broadband permits unlicensed access for both fixed and mobile applications.

In 2002, the FCC’s Spectrum Policy Task Force recommended that spectrum efficiency and innovation could be enhanced by reallocating unused and underutilized spectrum for both flexible-use… more

New America TV 'White Space' Paper in Telecom A.M.

Communications — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:03:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Spectrum sensing, of the kind that's required to allow wireless devices to use TV white spaces to access the Internet without causing harmful interference, is a “proven and well-understood technology,” the New America Foundation said in a white paper released Monday. The group said the goal of the paper is to counter “the torrent of misinformation” in arguments made by broadcasters and others opposed to opening the spectrum for unlicensed use by portable devices. Sources said Monday the paper comes with the white spaces item -- once slated for an October vote -- still stalled at the FCC pending a second round of device tests. ...

For the complete article, click here.

New America-Signed Petition to the FCC in The Washington Post

Communications — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:55:00 -0500

New America in the News:

A consortium of consumer groups is planning to urge federal regulators to clarify how much control cellphone companies can have over the messages and services delivered over their networks.

In a petition to be filed with the Federal Communications Commission today, these groups say the agency should prohibit wireless carriers from blocking text messages sent by any company, nonprofit group or political campaign. These groups -- including Public Knowledge, Free Press, Media Access Project, Consumers Union and the New America Foundation -- also say carriers should deliver all text messages to their customers, including those sent by competing phone services.

"Mobile carriers currently can and do arbitrarily decide what customers to serve and which speech to allow on text messages, refusing to serve those that they find controversial or that compete with the mobile carriers' services," the petition says. "This type of discrimination would be unthinkable and illegal in the world of voice communications, and it should be so in the world of text messaging as well."

It is the latest in a string of complaints and petitions filed with the FCC, pushing commissioners to take a stronger stance on the issue known as net neutrality, which refers to an effort to bar Internet and wireless providers like Verizon Wireless and AT&T from giving preferential treatment to content on their networks. ...

For the complete story, please follow this link.

InfoWorld Quotes Sascha Meinrath on M2Z and the White Spaces Debate

Communications — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:34:00 -0400

New America in the News:

M2Z Networks may sue the U.S. Federal Communications Commission after the agency turned down its request for radio frequencies for a national broadband wireless network.

***

...M2Z wants to deliver a free service, supported partly by locally targeted search advertising, at 384Kbps downstream and 128Kbps upstream. People would only have to give a valid e-mail address or phone number to use it. Like broadcast TV, the free service would be "family friendly," meaning it would filter out content that wasn't appropriate for children. A paid service on the same network would offer 3Mbps throughput and access to anything on the Internet.

[M2Z's CEO John Muleta] knows who he's up against. He was chief of the FCC's wireless bureau from 2003 to 2005. M2Z, founded in 2005 and based in Menlo Park, Calif., is backed by Silicon Valley venture capital firms.

One wireless analyst said the free service wouldn't be fast enough for most consumers. He also questioned its "family friendly" content restrictions.

"At that point, you're not really giving Internet service," said Sascha Meinrath, research director for the Wireless Future program at the public policy group New America Foundation.

But even if its service never gets turned on, M2Z has done its part to foster broadband competition, Meinrath said.

"M2Z has pretty single-handedly shifted the debate," Meinrath said. Its plan to pay for spectrum through royalties rather than up front, as well as to make more efficient use of spectrum and offer a free service, are likely to show up in future spectrum allocation plans, he said. More efficient wireless networks should mean more bandwidth at lower cost -- a better deal for consumers, Meinrath said...

For the complete article, please visit InfoWorld's web site.

New America Pushes to Keep White Space Open for Public Use

Communications — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 01:04:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...[The National Association of Broadcasters and the Association for Maximum Service TV] will stress their support for using wireless spectrum to further rural broadband deployment through fixed systems, officials said Monday. Meanwhile, they'll push hard against plans to use the TV band for mobile broadband services -- particularly involving devices that rely on spectrum sensing to determine when they'll work...

[NAB President David Rehr] and MSTV President David Donovan kicked off the lobbying Monday with a joint letter sent to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. Representatives from each state's broadcast association will fly in to Washington Sept. 19 to lobby their members of Congress, Rehr said...

***

The New America Foundation, an advocate of using the white spaces for wireless broadband, fired back. "NAB scare tactics cannot change the engineering facts," the group said. "There is no longer any doubt about the technical feasibility of mobile, low-power devices to detect-and-avoid channels occupied by licensed TV stations or wireless microphone systems..."

New America Foundation's Wireless Future Program's most recent policy report on the "myths and facts" of white space devices (pdf)

For the complete article, please visit the Washington Internet Daily web site (subscription only).

Wireless Future Program's Report Backs Claims of White Spaces Coalition

Communications — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 03:35:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...In a Sept. 10 letter, the National Association of Broadcasters endorsed FCC efforts to permit white spaces to be used for offering wireless broadband to stationary gadgets in rural areas. But it reiterated that mobile devices operating in the band would wreak havoc with DTV signals and make it impossible for affected parties to pinpoint the causes or locations of the interference. Following the briefing, broadcasters headed for the FCC and Capitol Hill to appeal directly to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, the other four agency commissioners and lawmakers.

"They're simply wrong on all accounts," responded Scott Blake Harris, counsel to the White Spaces Coalition [a corporate consortium advocating for unlicensed white spaced devices.] The group's members also include Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Philips Electronics. "These devices can be used successfully and will be used successfully," he said, adding, "The spectrum does not belong to the broadcasters and they are not licensed to use it." Harris downplayed the FCC's findings, insisting that the agency demonstrated that at least one prototype works effectively and that sensors can be calibrated to avoid interference. His claims were backed by a report issued Monday by the New America Foundation...

New America Foundation's Wireless Future Program's most recent policy report on the "myths and facts" of white space devices (pdf)

For the complete article, please visit the National Journal's Technology Daily web site (subscription only).

New America in Communications Daily and Consumer Electronics Daily

Communications — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 02:57:00 -0400

New America in the News:

New America Foundation responds to concerns about white space technology interfering with adjacent channels that are used by broadcasters:

Using adjacent channel leakage ratio and similar measures to deal with any interference in adjacent channels will keep white spaces devices from causing harmful interference to TV broadcasts, a coalition led by the New America Foundation told the FCC. The complexity of wideband data waveforms across the CMRS, PCS and now the Advanced Wireless Services bands led to "sophisticated tools," not yet used to regulate broadcast spectrum, to handle possible interference in adjacent channels, the coalition told the agency...

For the complete article, please visit Communications Daily and Consumer Electronics Daily (subscriptions only).

Comments in Home Shopping Proceeding

Wireless Future — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 12:22:00 -0400

New Television, Old Politics

Articles — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 02:27:00 -0500

When the definitive history of the 20th century is written, America’s transition to digital TV (DTV) may come to be viewed as the classic illustration of what can go wrong with a high tech industrial policy. For more than 20 years this transition has been taking place. It has already been the subject of half a dozen books and countless popular articles, let alone thousands of pages of Congressional Testimony and tens of thousands of pages of FCC comments. Hernan Galperin, an assistant professor at the Annenberg School for Communications, University of Southern California, brings this story into the 21st… more

From TV to Public Safety

Communications — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 14:15:00 -0400

A New America Event
10/26/2006 - 12:15pm

After watching first responder communications systems fail on 9/11 and after Hurricane Katrina, with tragic results, the vital importance of spectrum management for public safety communications has taken center stage in recent years. Congress recently passed legislation to reallocate 24 MHz of prime spectrum from TV to public safety in 2009, as part of America’s transition from analog to digital television. Currently, this new spectrum is set to be managed under the same assumptions and orthodoxies as current public safety spectrum allocations -- in which spectrum and equipment are designated exclusively for public safety; management is highly decentralized, without national or regional coordination; and narrowband voice communication is the principal application.

Is it time to consider fundamental reform in the way new public safety spectrum is managed? In a new paper released at this forum, Jon M. Peha, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, argues that fundamental reform would make it possible to achieve critical goals of interoperability, spectral efficiency, dependability, and security while lowering costs and providing access to more advanced mobile data applications. Peha argues that such reforms could include: moving toward a consistent nationwide network architecture, allowing commercial carriers to operate public safety networks, and making greater use of shared municipal and commercial broadband wireless networks for data applications. Click here for video of Peha's presentation at this event.

At the forum itself, participants debated alternative proposals for public safety spectrum reform. Michael Gottdenker, CEO of Access Spectrum, described an incremental approach to reorganize newly-allocated public safety bands to promote efficient use of spectrum, while Morgan O’Brien, CEO of Cyren Call and co-founder of Nextel, outlined his controversial proposal to use 30 MHz of returned TV band spectrum to build a shared commercial/public safety network.

Other panelists, including David Aylward, Director of the COMCARE Alliance, and Robert LeGrande of the Spectrum Coalition for Public Safety, reacted to these proposals and offered alternative approaches to support wireless broadband data applications for first responders. These various approaches to reform also were contrasted with current plans for the management and use of new public safety spectrum.

Full-length video of the event is available at right, while an MP3 audio recording, presentation materials and other supporting documents can be downloaded below.

From TV to Public Safety

Wireless Future — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 04:41:00 -0400

Abstract

The events surrounding Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 attacks demonstrated that the communications systems used by first responders in the United States are not adequate to meet the challenges of a post-9/11 world. The U.S. system is based on assumptions that local agencies should have maximal flexibility at the expense of standardization and regional coordination, that commercial carriers and municipal systems have little role to play, that public safety should not share spectrum or network infrastructure, and that narrowband voice applications should dominate. Many programs have been proposed to incrementally improve public safety communications systems, but without any fundamental… more

Comments Supporting Expanded Public Interest Obligations for Satellite Broadcasting

Wireless Future — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:53:00 -0400

Comments on DTV Converter Box Coupon Program

Wireless Future — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 06:48:00 -0400

Building Constituencies for Spectrum Policy Change - First Report

Wireless Future — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 08:51:00 -0400

In early 2006, the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation, an independent think tank, launched a new initiative to advance its work on public interest spectrum policy by strengthening connections with -- and service to -- diverse public constituencies. NAF enlisted CIMA: Center for International Media Action to convene a group to advise its Wireless Future Program from the perspective of communities that have a vested stake in the debate, but whose interests are not well represented by current policy and industry agendas.

CIMA consulted with many colleagues and allies who work on issues of community media, public… more