Walter Liss, ABC to the FCC: “I write to raise one basic question in this proceeding: Are you really prepared to authorize millions of unlicensed personal/portable devices in the TV band based on the hope that none of them will ever break and cause untraceable interference to consumer TV reception?” Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) also weighed in urging restraint, transparency and time for public comment. The five Commissioners are expected to take up the matter of allowing unlicensed white space devices into the cracks between television stations today.
RBR/TVBR observation: There are ways to use the fallow spectrum between stations while minimizing the risk to incumbents, but the FCC appears not to be interested in exploring them, despite the fact that techies leaked their desire to drive television out of its own spectrum once and for all in the next few years. Are we ushering in the era of high definition TV, or scrambled eggs TV? Stay tuned.
