L.A. TV Stations Free Up Some Spectrum For Wireless Broadband

Posted by timothy on Friday September 12, 2014 @01:34AM from the slightly-less-waste dept.

alphadogg (971356) writes An effort to free up some of the airwaves used by TV broadcasts and make them available for wireless broadband took a big step forward this week in the U.S. Two TV stations in Los Angeles, KLCS and KCET, have agreed to share a single frequency to deliver their programming freeing up a channel that can be auctioned off to wireless carriers next year. The change, which the Federal Communications Commission calls "repackaging," is possible because digital TV broadcasts don't need the full 6MHz of broadcast spectrum that was used for analog TV.

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They also use considerably higher frequencies. by mmell · 2014-09-12 02:39 · Score: 4, Interesting

VHF frequencies tended to flow around obstructions. UHF frequencies tended to be more "line of sight". Modern digital television is on even higher frequencies. Crunch the numbers - this means less coverage by FREE broadcast mechanisms and more incentive for consumers to pay for cable or satellite reception. "Broadcast" companies get a reliable revenue stream, cable and satellite companies get a de facto monopoly and the government gets another choke point on communication. Everyone wins!
Well, everyone except Joe Sixpack; but he's just an ignorant dolt anyhow (an insensitive clod?).