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Congress Wants FCC To Auction TV White Spaces

Posted by samzenpus on from the maximizing-profits dept.

GovTechGuy writes "Things don't look good for Google, Microsoft and other companies hoping to experiment with super WiFi and other technologies in unused TV channels or 'White spaces'. Both House Republicans and Senate Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller are prodding the FCC to sell as much spectrum as possible at next year's incentive auction, which may not leave much for those hoping to advance the next generation of WiFi technology."

2 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. keep it and manage it like roads and airspace by k6mfw · · Score: 5, Insightful

    instead of those with the big bucks owning huge lots of spectrum, FCC should regulate it like public roads and airspace to be sure everyone has a fair share and still follow the rules. It seems few corporations will get big slices so they can do whatever they want with it, and everyone else get scraps like 2.4GHz which become useless (classic example of tragedy of the commons).

    --
    mfwright@batnet.com
    1. Re:keep it and manage it like roads and airspace by jythie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sad thing is that is what the FCC is supposed to be doing. Limited resource for the public good, but the current meme of 'private enterprise is the solution to all problems' has twisted their mandate into enforcing who gets exclusive lucrative access to what is essentially a shared resource.