FCC sets roadmap for using vacant TV airwaves
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The U.S. Federal Communications  Commission on Tuesday set a roadmap for making airwaves between  television channels available for other services by early 2009,  when broadcasters are due to switch to digital signals.
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(InfoWorld) - A group of technology vendors has submitted new test results for a wireless device intended to operate in unused portions of the television spectrum afterÂ an identical device malfunctioned in U.S. Federal Communications Commission tests earlier this year. The new tests showed the wireless device correctly detected TV signals and stayed out of that part of the spectrum 100 percent of the time, according to a filing on behalf of Microsoft and Philips Electronics. Microsoft and Philips are part of the White Spaces Coalition, a group of tech vendors asking the FCC to allow wireless devices to operate in the so-called white spaces of the television spectrum. The coalition wants the white spaces opened up to give consumers more wireless broadband options. Television broadcasters have opposed the White Spaces Coalition, saying it's too likely that wireless devices will interfere with TV signals. On July 31, the FCC declined to license a wireless device built by the coalition, saying it interfered with TV signals. Microsoft later said the device was damaged and "operated at a severely degraded level." On Thursday, Microsoft and Philips submitted new tests to the FCC. In their new tests, the wireless device detected signals that are "far too weak for a television set to produce a broadcast television picture," wrote Ed Thomas, a tech advisor to the White Spaces Coalition and a former chief of the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology. The FCC will likely do its own retest of the device. The White Spaces Coalition hopes the FCC can make a decision to approve the device by the end of the year, Thomas said. The group had originally hoped the FCC would make a decision by October, and members believe the FCC can still make a decision soon, he said. "We'd love to see the FCC do whatever they need to do to corroborate our data," Thomas said. "We hope we've moved the ball a long way to help them make a decision." This month,Â the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Association for Maximum Service Television launched a campaign urging the FCC to reject white spaces devices. The wireless devices could cause "devastating interference" to digital TV sets, the two groups said. "While our friends at Intel, Google, and Microsoft may find system errors, computer glitches, and dropped calls tolerable, broadcasters do not," Alan Frank, NAB's chairman, said in a news release this month.
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U.S. communications regulators are expected to approve on Tuesday a plan to loosen media ownership restrictions, despite objections from consumer groups and a threat by some U.S. senators to revoke the action.
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The upcoming 700MHz spectrum auctions by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)&#160;have drawn bid applications from giant companies including Google and AT&amp;T. But a number of small companies and individuals have submitted bid applications as well.Late Tuesday, the FCC announced that it had accepted bids from 96 applicants and has another 170 applications that are incomplete for the auction of highly coveted spectrum that can be used for voice or wireless broadband service.Some of those applicants may not complete their applications. In the FCC&#39;s advanced wireless services auction in 2006, 252 organizations submitted applications, and there were 168 qualified bidders.It&#39;s typical that several initial applicants will bow out before they have to submit deposit payments, said analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates. &quot;When it comes to putting down earnest money, many [applicants] back away or can&#39;t get the money,&quot; he said.Applicants have until Jan. 4 to pay their deposits or resubmit their applications for the auction, which begins Jan. 24.The FCC designed the auction in an effort to attract small bidders. Up for sale is 62MHz of spectrum in the 700MHz band, now occupied by U.S. television stations. In late 2005, Congress passed legislation requiring U.S. TV stations to move to all-digital broadcasts and abandon analog spectrum between channels 52 and 69. The deadline for TV stations to end broadcasts in the 700MHz band is February 2009.The spectrum is broken up into five blocks, with three of the five blocks divided into small geographic areas. A 12MHz block of spectrum called the A block is divided up into 176 small geographic areas, called economic areas, as is the 6MHz E block. The 12MHz B block is broken up into 734 local areas called cellular market areas. Bidders can win multiple regional or local licenses.But the chances of small companies winning significant amounts of spectrum is &quot;pretty slim,&quot; Gold said. &quot;Any areas with significant population densities will bring in the big boys, who seek revenues from a mass market,&quot; he said. &quot;I suppose some smallish rural areas may be of less interest to AT&amp;T [or] Verizon, but these guys want true countrywide networks, so they will likely bid there anyway.&quot;Several unfamiliar names are among the prospective bidders who submitted incomplete applications:-- Office of Spectral Ecology, listed as an unincorporated association, with one board member, based in Montreal.-- Dragon Arch, listed as a corporation based in New York City.-- FaithFone Wireless, a Phoenix wireless carrier launched in September 2006. FaithFone is a self-described &quot;purpose-driven Christian mobile phone company, offering a cell phone service combining faith and family content.&quot; FaithFone&#39;s wireless service offers daily devotionals, Bible passages and a prayer of the day through text messaging.-- The Navajo Department of Information Technology.-- Part-15.org, a nonprofit organization for users of unlicensed wireless spectrum.Smaller companies with annual revenue of less than $15 million that have submitted complete applications include:-- Grain Spectrum, based in Sarasota, Florida, a minority-owned company focused on building wireless networks for government users.-- GreenFly, a mobile services provider founded in 2006 and based in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.-- Xpressweb Internet Services, an Internet service provider based in Kanab, Utah.The auction, expected to raise more than $10 billion, is likely to last several weeks. Many spectrum experts call the 700MHz band &quot;beachfront&quot; property because it can carry wireless broadband signals three to four times farther than some other spectrum bands.Since early December, applicants have been in an FCC-mandated quiet period. The FCC spectrum auction rules prohibit collusion on bidding plans.
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WASHINGTON - The head of the Federal Communications Commission has circulated an ambitious plan to relax the decades old media ownership rules, including repealing a rule that generally forbids a company to own both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city.
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Open access advocates say an FCC plan for new spectrum doesn't go far enough.
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The U.S. Federal Communications   Commission on Tuesday set a roadmap for making airwaves between   television channels available for other services by early 2009,   when broadcasters are due to switch to digital signals.
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On September 11, the US Federal Communications Commission approved a plan that would continue to mandate cable TV carriers within an area make available all the broadcast signals receivable in that area. Both cable operators and broadcasters applaud the plan, but perhaps it's because it has not only been scaled back but also has an expiration date.
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InfoWorld - A group of technology vendors has submitted new test results for a wireless device intended to operate in unused portions of the television spectrum after&#160;an identical device malfunctioned in U.S. Federal Communications Commission tests earlier this year.
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FCC approves the technology that could transform wireless communications.
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A coalition of big technology companies wants to bring high-speed Internet access to consumers in a new way: over television airwaves. Key to the project is whether a device scheduled to be delivered to federal labs today lives up to its promise.
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Satellite companies would be able to  retransmit broadcasters' television signals for another five  years but would have to offer those signals on a single dish,  under legislation approved by Congress on Saturday.
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Federal regulators said they will try again to test prototypes on Jan. 24 for transmitting high-speed Internet service over unused television airwaves.
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The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is proposing a plan that would wrap up by the end of the year the long-running debate over how many media properties a company should be allowed to own in a single market.
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February 17, 2009, is the day when analog broadcasts shut down, and government agencies are planning ahead for the transition.
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A federal airwaves auction starting today is expected to bring consumers improved wireless broadband services and will likely provide the last opportunity to create a nationwide challenger to the big cellphone companies.
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The Federal Communications Commission is pushing ahead to pass a rule today that would allow more consolidation of local media ownership in the nation's largest cities, despite the fresh threat of a legislative rebuke and continued protests from advocacy groups.