Most of the articles you see about the analog television cutoff focus on the switch to digital, and
talk about whether or not people's TV sets will be compatible. They seem to
leave off the other side of the story; what is going to happen to the frequency
range that will be vacated by the analog signal once it is no longer broadcast?
The truth is that the government has a reason they are
forcing stations to turn off their analog broadcast. They already sold off the
part of the airwave spectrum that it occupies almost a year ago.
700Mhz Spectrum
Analog television was broadcast with a frequency in the lower end of the 700Mhz
Spectrum (698–806 MHz). Since the National
Television System Committee (NTSC) transmission guidelines for analog broadcasts
were developed in 1941, the bandwidth could be used a lot more efficiently if a
new network was developed today.
As wireless communication technologies are growing at a
rapid pace, telecom companies are clamoring for more bandwidth for their
services. The government decided to cash in on this demand by auctioning off
the vacated frequencies to the highest bidder. The idea is that the winning
bidders would create a wireless broadband network for internet access or other
wireless data services.
Open-Access Rules
Before the auction began, there were many discussions about the rules and
stipulations that would come along with the spectrum to the winning bidder.
Specifically, Google announced intentions to enter the bidding for the highly
desired C block only if four proposed open access rules they sent to the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) were adopted. These rules would provide
access to 3rd party applications and devices, essentially forcing
the winning bidder to sell bandwidth to their competitors at wholesale prices.
In the end, it was decided that if the winning bid past the $4.6 billion
reserve then two of Google's four rules would be adopted.
Verizon, unhappy with these open-access rules mandated by
the FCC, brought a lawsuit against them trying to get the open access rules
thrown out. They charged that providing access to competitors would decrease
the value of the spectrum, and thus lessen the final auction price the
government would receive. In the end Verizon dropped their suit.
Auction 73
The FCC's auction for the newly vacated space took place in March 2008 on eBay
(where else?). The spectrum was broken down into five "blocks" known as A Block,
B Block, C Block, D Block and E Block. Within those five blocks, over 1000
separate licenses were auctioned off separately. By doing this, the government could
both maximize profits and give smaller companies a chance to bid.
Auction Results
Although the spectrum was broken down to include smaller companies, there
were two big winners in the auction with Verizon and AT&T combining for 72%
of the available frequencies. Total revenue for the entire auction came in at
$19,592,420,000, exceeding all expectations even with the open-access rules in
place.
 So what's the government to do with their $19.6 billion
dollar payout? Well chances are that money is long gone, as it was used for the
DTV coupons given away and to pay for commercials and advertising to educate
the public about the analog television cutoff.
Verizon's 4G LTE
Network
With Verizon's newly acquired "C Block," they have announced plans to build a
4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) mobile phone network which will be able to
transmit more data quicker and farther than current cellular networks. Expected
launch for this network isn't until the latter half of 2010, and more info will
come on this network as it moves closer to launch.
Analog Shutoff Delay?
Recently President Obama's advisors have called for the FCC to delay the
cutoff date so the government can give more coupons out and spend more money to
"educate the public" about the cutoff. Although the FCC has refused, the Senate
voted in favor of delaying the analog shutoff until June 12th, 2009.
In a surprise move yesterday, the house voted to keep the original date.
At this point so much money has been put into making
everyone aware of the date, I feel that it is ludicrous to change it with less
than a month to go. Many broadcasting stations agree and plan to go ahead with
the original cutoff date of February, 17th 2009 even if the official
date is delayed.
Resources:
700 MHz Explained in 10 Steps
FCC Auctions: Summary: Auction 73
Open access: everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask
Wireless trade group drops challenge to FCC open access rule
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