Why Unlicensed Use of Vacant TV Spectrum Will Not Interfere with Television Reception
Policy Paper
July 10, 2006
This paper takes account of new information to update an earlier New America Issue Brief by the same authors: “Why Unlicensed Use of the White Space in the TV Bands Will Not Cause Interference to DTV Viewers” (October 2005).
On June 28, the Senate Commerce Committee marked up and adopted comprehensive telecom reform legislation (S. 2686, “The Advanced Telecommunications and Opportunity Reform Act of 2006”). The legislation included a provision (Title VI, “The Wireless Innovation Act of 2006”) directing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt rules permitting, to the greatest extent feasible, unlicensed access to the unused TV channels in each local TV market for WiFi, local wireless broadband services, and other innovations. This Brief addresses the technical arguments raised by the opponents of this legislation. In summary, the type of worst-case scenarios opponents raise can easily be addressed through the application of new smart radio technology and the conventional FCC rulemaking process.
To access the entire text of this Issue Brief, please see the attached PDF document.