700 MHz Auction Begins Tomorrow

necro81 writes "On Thursday, after much speculation and wrangling, the FCC will begin auctioning licenses to the coveted 700 MHz band that will be vacated by analog TV in 2009. The NY Times has a good summary of the players (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, Google, et al.), how the auction will work, how Google has already scored an open networks victory, and what it could all mean for consumers. The auction will go on for several months, but you can keep tabs on the bids at this FCC site."

Comments

Re:When did it go from public to private

[Anonymous Coward]

In 2009 you will be able to set up your ol' rabbit ears (and your 50$ converter box) and it will just work...still. They are just shifting from analog to digital, which frees up part of the frequency band. No on stole anything from you. You didn't own it in the first place, calm down. ... freakin commies xD

Auction 73

[lart2150]

for those who are looking for the auction it's number 73 on the fcc website.

Re:Where does the money go?

[Ironsides]

The money will go into the general fund. A.K.A. the same place income taxes go to.

It's always been private

[mstahl]

I think you're confusing transmitting and receiving. You can receive on whatever frequencies you care to. Swap out a few parts to an old ham radio receiver and it will totally pick up 700MHz band and you can listen to your heart's content.

Transmitting is a different story though. Even public radio stations have to pay (albeit less than commercial radio stations) in order to broadcast and they are assigned a unique frequency on which to do so.

Re:Where does the money go?

[Detritus]

It goes into the General Fund, just like all taxes, duties, fines, etc. Only Congress has the power to appropriate money from the General Fund. Federal agencies and departments don't get to keep any of the money that they receive from external sources. It all goes into the General Fund.