When it comes to providing broadband access for citizens the US, the Coalition For Free TV and Broadband says that it can do better than the proposals for the auction of spectrum in the television space. Rather than generate a one-time gross of $25B with a net of only $6B, it says its plan may produce $80B in 10 years time and $125B by 2026.
Details of the plan are to be released 10/19/11.
According to one member of the coalition, the plan is already in the hands of Congress. “We have delivered to Congress a robust plan that continues the broadcast industry’s decades-long record of serving our local communities,” states Mark Aitken, VP of Advanced Technology for Sinclair Broadcast Group. “A ‘Broadcast Overlay’ serves multiple objectives by delivering a solution providing wireless high data-rate capacity, continues to maximize the efficient use of broadcast TV spectrum, offers the public new wireless service choices, and creates an entirely brand-new revenue stream for the U.S. Treasury.”
Legacy TV’s Jim West added, “There is now a clear choice for the Congress. They can choose a plan that will further entrench wireless monopolies, destroy thousands of jobs and television stations, decrease competition and raise only $25 billion or they can choose a plan that will eventually raise significantly more money, increase competition and choices for the American public, create jobs and will continue to offer entertainment, news and information to the public through thousands of television stations.”
According to The Coalition’s Lee Miller, the plan provides a steady stream of income into the US Treasury. “An auction is only a short term band-aid for two hungry monsters – the wireless industry and the Federal Budget. We already know that the current plan proposed by the big wireless companies -which would destroy thousands of small local television stations – is ethically wrong and unsustainable. Now we know that the wireless company plan is inferior. How much farther down this road will members of Congress follow the wireless industry lobbyists?”
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