March 22nd, 2010 
joel A couple weeks ago the Erie Times-News and P&T’s comments pages were flooded with angry readers responding to sports writer John Dudley’s column taking to task Indianapolis Colts star and Erie native Bob Sanders over his lack of “media savvy.” When we asked if you agreed or not with Dudley in a Press and Tower poll, just over half said “No.” However, a strong minority noted that Dudley at least made some good points in his calling out of Sanders.
Last week a huge announcement out of Washington: the Federal Communications Commission rolled out their National Broadband Plan. You might remember that Chairman Julius Genachowski was in Wattsburg along with Vice President Biden back in July touting the efforts to reach out to rural and poor areas of the country to bring broadband Internet to every home. One of the goals embedded in the plan is 100 mbps download speed and 50 mbps of upload speed for 100 million households by 2020.
The FCC says to make that happen they will need much more wireless spectrum. They have unabashedly targeted broadcast television for 120 MHz of that spectrum. You might recall that the TV industry gave up channels 52+ when the industry converted from analog to digital. Now the FCC is asking for at least channels 46-51, and may require stations to begin sharing 6 Mhz channels. I’m working on a story regarding any local impact.
On the other side, the proliferation of smartphones means that a spectrum crisis is looming unless something is done. What do you think?
Should broadcasters be required to give up television spectrum for the National Broadband Plan?
- Yes: the future of wireless connectivity depends on it (35%, 12 Votes)
- No: broadcasters have suffered enough with the DTV conversion and the economy (35%, 12 Votes)
- I don't know/I don't care (30%, 10 Votes)
Total Voters: 34
Loading ...
Posted in 
Tags: 
My jaw dropped wide at this question.
HDTV was NEVER about TV, but always about opening spectrum, and management of allocation after that move to HDTV. Obama delayed job growth by slowing the changeover from February to June.
Locally, Verizon could not open its first tower until the spectrum became available…..and Broadband (of the lowest quality) has begun now by Verizon in the eastern county areas like Wattsburg. ATT and Sprint have a lock on all the good spots for towers from Ohio to NY border aready in Erie area. They are not gonna share.
Broadband = jobs and technological innovation throughout the land, not getting service to yokels in the boondock areas of the country to watch tv.
Broadcaster feelings are not relevant to the topic.
Everything will be wireless in the future and the countries that adapt now to Broadband will be in the lead for jobs and innovative technology, such as a doctor in India operating from there, on a patient at Hamot.
The poll reminded me of the movie “My Cousin Vinnie and Marisa Tomei’s character, Mona Lisa Vito under cross examination by the prosecution as to her fitness as a witness:
D.A. Jim Trotter: Now, Ms. Vito, being an expert on general automotive knowledge, can you tell me… what would the correct ignition timing be on a 1955 Bel Air Chevrolet, with a 327 cubic-inch engine and a four-barrel carburetor?
Mona Lisa Vito: That’s a bullshit question.
D.A. Jim Trotter: Does that mean that you can’t answer it?
Mona Lisa Vito: It’s a bullshit question, it’s impossible to answer.
D.A. Jim Trotter: Impossible because you don’t know the answer!
Mona Lisa Vito: Nobody could answer that question!
D.A. Jim Trotter: Your Honor, I move to disqualify Ms. Vito as an expert witness!
Judge Chamberlain Haller: Can you answer the question?
Mona Lisa Vito: No, it is a trick question!
Judge Chamberlain Haller: Why is it a trick question?
Vinny Gambini: [to Bill] Watch this.
Mona Lisa Vito: ‘Cause Chevy didn’t make a 327 in ’55, the 327 didn’t come out till ’63. And it wasn’t offered in the Bel Air with a four-barrel carb till ’64. However, in 1964, the correct ignition timing would be four degrees before top-dead-center.
D.A. Jim Trotter: Well… uh… she’s acceptable, Your Honor.
The Poll Question does not pass the Mona Lisa Vito test and misses the topic of Broadband by a mile. It can’t be answered as given in the Poll.
Interested parties can update their knowledge at the government’s excellent site, with myriad explanations of what is going on and why. Read it here:
http://www.broadband.gov/
You can test YOUR connection speed (Upload and downloads)on the Homepage for free, two ways, report dead zones, and voice feedback of a vital nature to our future jobs.
Economic Opportunity, Education, Health Care, Energy and Environment, Government Performance, Civic Engagement, Public Safety, and perhaps Homeland Security are the prime issues driving Broadband.
TV becoming HDTV has zip to do with Broadcasters and everything to do with opening the spectrum of available space up period.
Efficiency was the name of the game.
Better quality was an accidental by-product for the initiative. JOBS are the goal.
Who is going to provide all that wireless access? Will rural people get it for free? will it be subsidized?
If you choose to live in a rural area than you have to deal with that choice. Well water, long drives to school & shopping. You get privacy & safety & lower taxes as a return.
The idea that we need to subsidize it is crazy. But I guess since we are running such a large surplus and have no national debt we can afford to pay for high speed wireless for people who choose to live out in the country.
the suffering they experience with dial up speeds. Oh the humanity!
Cecilia Kang wrote for the Washington Post this morning on Verizon and Broadband. In an article titled “Telecom Giant Challenges FCC role in Broadband”, Kang offers revealing insight into the breakdown of our society, and this misguided attempt of GIANT business.
In theory, a greater demand for a product leads to lower price. Have you looked at your Verizon bill monthly for the past several decades?
The Bells (ATT) were broken up into smaller companies to increase competition and lower prices.
Result? Long distance bills came down; local bills skyrocketed.
But Bill Gates came out of his garage and offered the world a bonanza…Internet. The phone companies never saw it coming. Next was wireless service…a huge bonanza of cash for the Baby Bells and Sprint and Verizon. Cable TV got in the act with Internet access too. (Time Warner, Comcast, all of em). Local government rewarded Restraint of Trade and no competition, by awarding exclusive contracts to providers. I wonder why?
Phones are disappearing nationwide and the landline business is dead forever. All communication will rapidly go wireless as technology changes make the 4G, and later models able to do anything a consumer wants.
Cecilia Kang’s 2nd and 3rd paragraphs said this today:
“Verizon Communications said that the FCC’s power over high-speed Internet services is “at best murky” and offered recommendations to Congress that could take away much of the agency’s power.
Tom Tauke, Verizon’s top lobbyist, urged lawmakers to rethink the way the government oversees broadband, arguing that the FCC should shift to more of an enforcement role — like that of the Federal Trade Commission — from its current status as a rule-making body.”
—Washington Post
WOW! YIKES! HOLY REVELATION!
Verizon wants the FCC to strictly be an ENFORCER of the rules, not a regulator of Broadband.
Several thoughts come to mind.
1) Verizon does not argue that the FCC be out of regulation for phone, internet, etc, just Broadband.
Why?
Because Broadband will be all that exists in the future. The balance of communications are way outdated.
2) Verizon wants rule enforcement, not regulation for the FCC. Indeed, Verizon WROTE the new rules that they feel need enforced and submitted them to Congress to pass into law….limiting the FCC out of the loop entirely for Broadband….except to enforce the rules Verizon writes for Congress to make law.
3) Since Congress is then, a wholly owned subsidiary of Verizon…passing laws written by VZ, why would any citizen bother to vote anymore? The ever growing declines in voting, are a direct result of growing recognition and hopelessness, that citizen input is meaningless. Citizens may vote, but corporations write laws, and Congress rubber stamps those writings,…..in return for campaign funds.
The entire system is rigged against citizens.
The Health Care Bill showed everyone how Congress works in making law, and it did NOT include citizens and their wishes. Majority rule is a history phenomenon that no longer exists. Big Pharma wrote the law for Health Care; Lawyers were silent as Tort Reform was excluded.
AARP helped the geriatric set by encouraging nearly $500 million of Medicare funds accumulated, to be wiped out to fund health care. Hello???
And now, we face Broadband and the foundation of law is being written by those who profit most from GOVERNMENT paid Broadband.
There is little reason to vote in an election anymore.
The business of running our society now excludes the governed.
But at least you can find what they are doing to you faster with Broadband soon.
Lack of regulation allowed Enron, Bank collapse, subprime loans, and the worst areas of our economy and civil rights to be trampled away.
Perhaps instead of Verizon writing laws and submitting them to Congress to pass, MORE regulation on behalf of the citizens is in order.
You may begin laughing now.
Full Wapo story is here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/24/AR2010032403106.html
Today, our lawmakers have acted.
If you think I mean Congress, you are mistaken.
The 3rd branch of Government, the Judicial, has effectively become the maker of laws, by default. They no longer rule on the merit of Constitutional law, but on a tiny slice of infinty that moves law of the land, in or out of the direction, political activism of the Supremes has become.
This day, the Supremes have proclaimed the FCC has NO authority to regulate the Internet. Internet providers are free to do as they please. It sounds so Americana at its best, but the Internet is global.
To reach the Internet, from anywhere, you need a port of entry. (Ask the Chinese how difficult that can be when regulation is absolute….not a safeguard of the People.
The case involved file sharing by BitTorrent. Comcast shut that down, and the FCC said “stop doing that” Comcast. The Court ruled that Congress has not given the Authority known as FCC, the authority to FCC the Internet and voided the “no-no” issued to Comcast.
Verizon CEO, Ivan Seidenberg, is deliriously happy to find that no whip lash from the FCC can reach his back, thanks to the Supremes making law.
As for lawmakers getting involved, one paragraph says it all:
“In 2006, Congress rejected five bills, backed by groups including Google, Amazon.com, Free Press, and Public Knowledge, that would have handed the FCC the power to police Net neutrality violations. Even though the Democrats have enjoyed a majority on Capitol Hill since 2007, the political leadership has shown little interest in resuscitating those proposals.”
So the Judicial branch made the law by default, in a hand picked case.
No policing by the FCC? Watch your bills for Internet Access from any port style you choose.
Think UP! …through the roof.
Locally, in Erie, PA, I was driving toward Peninsula Drive and noted new poles going up, next to old telephone poles (about 14 or 15 feet inward toward homes).
Route 5, aka 12th St.(East and West), aka Rt 290, aka West Ridge Rd alternate(East and West), aka some Memorial Highway at parts….already enough to confuse even the locals, is being widened.
For a town losing manufacturing in every corner, we sure do need wider roads and more airport runway.
Modern communities place all of this mish-mash UNDERGROUNG, adding fiber optics. Even the electric power is underground, giving rise to less maintenance, and a cleaner view above ground.
But I feel sorry for anyone who bought a home at say 8th and Marshal, and east/west of there. It appears Eminent Domain is taking half or more of their yard, putting ugly telephone poles in their bathroom window, LOWERINg property values, and destroying the community anew.
Who dreams this crap up?
Drive by there and see if you would want that done to your property.
All of this could be underground, as well as fiber optics and cable connections for Internet Access under the new Broadband Access provisions.
Would somebody introduce the left hand to the right hand of our body politic and business movers/shakers?
FCC story of Court power here:
http://news.cnet.com/the-iconoclast/?tag=rb_content;overviewHead