PPH Responds to Council Resolution on White Spaces
Written by Joshua Breitbart Wednesday, 25 March 2009 14:54
City Council tries to halt new technology that could close the digital divide. Community advocates react.
Advocates for closing the digital divide condemned a City Council resolution urging the Federal Communications Commission to delay a decision concerning the unused part of the airwaves known as “white spaces.” The FCC has announced its intention to issue a ruling at a November 4 meeting.
The Council's Committee on Technology in Government passed Resolution No. 1613 at a special meeting this morning. The full Council is expected to approve it this afternoon.
In passing the resolution, the Council rejected calls from technologists, good government groups, immigrant rights organizations, and community media to endorse the new technology. Instead, the resolution repeats the request from the National Association of Broadcasters that the FCC delay its decision. Because of anticipated turnover at the FCC with a new administration, any delay at this point would extend an already-four-year-long review for up to a year or more.
“The City Council is playing politics with our technological future. They would rather cut and paste a NAB press release than close the digital divide,” Joshua Breitbart, Policy Director for People's Production House, said.
Proponents of white space technology argue that it would pave the way for cheaper, faster wireless connections to the Internet, allowing many people to afford an Internet connection for the first time. A recent study commissioned by the City's Economic Development Corporation found that only 46.4 percent of New York households have high speed Internet access, well below the national average. Low income residents are even further behind, with barely a quarter having broadband at home. Wireless access over the white spaces would be especially helpful in rural areas, where many people lack even the option of purchasing a broadband connection.
Opponents claim the devices could interfere with other wireless signals, such as television broadcasts or wireless microphone transmissions. FCC engineers recently determined that white space devices can detect and avoid other signals, which will prevent interference.
The FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology conducted 18 months of lab and field testing of white spaces prototypes, including a test at a Broadway show where wireless microphones are routinely used. Broadway producers, while not technically licensed to use wireless microphones, have relied on them for years and fear having to adjust their practices. On October 15, the FCC's engineers concluded that "the burden of 'proof of concept' has been met."
The engineering results are part of an FCC review dating back to early 2004. All told, the various stakeholders have filed nearly 30,000 comments in the proceeding. Maximum Service Television and wireless microphone manufacturer Shure, both of which testified before City Council in support of the resolution, have filed 104 and 67 comments with the FCC respectively.
“We're hopeful that the FCC will ignore the New York City Council's sop to the broadcasters and base its decision on sound engineering and the public interest,” Breitbart said.
