When we last polled our P&T readers, we asked about your online video usage. A plurality said that they never watch local news video online, while over a third would occasionally do so. Just under a third would watch full newscasts or live video streams if offered.

There is much talk in the trade press about the looming spectrum crisis, with wireless broadband operators such as AT&T and Verizon screaming for more bandwidth, especially in the UHF “beachfront property” bands where signals can penetrate buildings better and have less dropout. That just happens to be where for the past 60 years your local television stations operate, and they are not giving up their “seed corn” without a fight.

The National Broadband Plan has called for an additional 500 MHz to be allocated to the wireless operators, a big chunk of which would come out of broadcasters’ spectrum “behind.” This proposal is coming after the spectrum that TV stations abandoned with the digital TV conversion.

So which side are you on; does the need for spectrum to operate smartphones and tablets and whatever next-generation technology is out there trump the outdated free TV model? Or is the highly-efficient, locally-responsive, and free one-to-many model of TV stations an inherent right of citizens in a representative democracy?

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