Broadcasters Oppose Wireless Net Service 146
kaufmanmoore writes "The AP reports that the National Association of Broadcasters is launching ads to target lawmakers over a push by a consortium of technology companies including Google, Intel, HP, and MSFT who want to use unused and unlicensed TV spectrum (the so-called 'white space') for wireless broadband. Broadcasters are airing concerns about the devices creating interference with broadcast television. In a statement, NAB chairman Alan Frank takes a swipe at technology companies: 'While our friends at Intel, Google and Microsoft may find system errors, computer glitches and dropped calls tolerable, broadcasters do not.'"
Broadcast TV is dead (Score:3, Informative)
Re:It is bull, here is why: (Score:3, Informative)
I can receive hidef tv anytime i want. it costs me nothing. it also has a large range. packet network on the other hand are much more expensive to setup then a simple transmitter, and require specialised equipment to communicate with. there is no hd content streamed yet either, not enough bandwidth. broadcast tv is actually very very efficent, and in terms of sending a picture and sound, pisses all over tcp for speed.
Maybe because it did in the tests (Score:5, Informative)
Then those companies said, basically, "yeah, well, you should ignore that 'cause the device was just deffective." Well, then show me the model which isn't. Also, did they test it? If they can't take a demo to the FCC seriously enough to have a fully tested prototype, it doesn't exactly inspire confidence... yet.
Also show me that you've fixed that mode of failure. If a device can just fail in a mode that jams two adjacent TV channels, I'd worry too.
To give an example from another wave band and type, imagine that a disco opens across the road from your house. Yes, it can be soundproofed to hell and back, but I'd like them to do that first, not just remain at the "it could be done" stage. If the first test could be heard from a mile, dunno about you, I'd probably be at the head of the medieval mob with torches and pitchforks trying to get them out of town.
And, honestly, the computer-related companies _do_ have a track record of pushing unsafe or untested stuff out the door. Tell anyone who's seen a Windows computer get pwned in 10 minutes flat after connecting to the internet that they should _totally_ trust MS to have their broadcasting equipment fail-safe.
Google is any better only because they stuck to the "but it's only a beta!" defense for how many years now? In any other tech company, going productive with a beta would be called irresponsible. My boss would probably have my head for lunch if I told him "it's just a beta" about a version that got deployed.
At any rate, it's again a culture that doesn't inspire confidence when it comes to other domains. If they can run their search engine as a beta and tweak it as it goes, more power to them, but it's not a model I'd want in something that broadcasts stuff. Or generally in anything that involves a physical product. If their page rank algorithm fails it's just a "teh oops" moment, and they'll tweak it some more again. If such a broadcasting device fails, it jams two adjacent TV stations. It's just not the same thing.
Heck, even in software it becomes an unworkable model if you move out of the free-services-over-the-net arena. If you shipped an OS by the "it's just a beta" philosophy, you'd probably do worse than even MS. Remember, MS at least has the policy of never shipping with known bugs. But even just the unknown ones caused the pwnage-fest when connected to the Internet. Now imagine it shipped as a beta.
Re:Sounds like Bull to me (Score:3, Informative)
False (this is in the United States and Canada - not sure how it works elsewhere). Unused TV channels are used for low-power local broadcast equipment such as wireless microphones and in-ear monitors (the ear plugs with wires that you see musicians wearing). You may see some total crap wireless mic from Radio Shack that runs in the 900MHz band, but all the good ones (ie, from Shure, Sennheiser, AKG, etc...) run in unused TV channels. I have a bunch of Shure ULX channels and the receiver displays the TV channel I'm on. If you want a demonstration, go here [shure.com]. The older products run on VHF channels, the new ones on UHF.
Before you say "Well, Aerosmith and NBC can afford to upgrade", remember that these things are owned by thousands of schools, community theaters, indie rock bands, small coffee shops, etc. These people (myself being in the community theater sound category) can't afford to have a $15,000 investment in gear, which was fully licensed by the FCC and legal, sudenly become worthless.
Obviously, progress happens, and maybe if there's a 10 year phase-in people can upgrade, but the current state of the art technology in this area is on these frequencies and there is currently *no* alternative on the market that I could upgrade to even if I could afford it.