Well, it’s not at work yet. One of the biggest public interest benefits of broadcast television going to DTV and ending the period of dual analog/digital operation was giving spectrum to first responders and using it for interoperable communications devices. It remains an ongoing project.
President Barack Obama has just signed legislation, extending the Public Safety Interoperable Communications (PSIC) through 2012. The program, an offshoot of the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005, grant program “provides funding for state projects that arm public safety personnel with interoperable communications equipment and the necessary training for system users,” according to a release from supporters Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX).
