TV White Spaces and the Tragedy of the Commons

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Kenneth R. Carter [ken () kennethrcarter com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 9:41 AM
To: David Farber
Subject: TV White Spaces and the Tragedy of the Commons

For IP, if you wish

For more than nine decades, lawyers, engineers, and economists have argued that radio spectrum regulation is needed due 
to the fact that without some form of intervention, it is impossible to exclude or limit the use of a common resource 
such as spectrum.  Without exclusion, users consume the spectrum without regard to their usage's impact on the benefits 
obtained by other would-be users.  They, therefore, tend to overuse the spectrum, causing interference to other users.  
This reduction in social welfare due to overuse is referred to as the Tragedy of the Commons.However, we can now 
observe from the debate surrounding the TV White Spaces that the ability to exclude certain users is not sufficient to 
remedy the Tragedy of the Commons. A relatively small number of over-the-air TV households are able to use these 
spectrum bands without regard to the costs their use imposes on the rest of Americans.  Indeed, according to the most 
recent FCC statistics, in 2005 only about 14% (See Appendix B, Table 
B-1<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-11A1.pdf>) of US TV households receive their TV 
over-the-air. The remaining 86% get no direct benefit from this spectrum.

The National Association of Broadcasters is now opposing tests<http://www.totaltele.com/View.aspx?ID=101668&t=2> the 
FCC is currently conducting which will measure the impact of unlicensed use of the White Spaces on digital TV 
reception. In order to protect digital TV receivers, potential White Space users must be excluded, and the NAB is 
throwing its weight around to ensure that outcome.  According to a 
quote<http://www.totaltele.com/View.aspx?ID=101668&t=2> from NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton, "We're not going to be 
engaging in threats or anything, but about 70 members of Congress have already sent letters in expressing concern." 
Well, as I wrote in a previous entry on my 
blog<http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2008/02/white-space-and-gray-matter/>, at least one of those 70 letters is 
total bunk. Nonetheless, the cost to all of society of affording interference protection to this minority must also be 
considered.

If the NAB's argument is accepted without scrutiny, the 14% of TV households will prevent the other 86% of US TV 
households (plus the TV-less households) from using those radio frequencies for broadband Internet, baby monitors, new 
forms of low-power broadcast, and other RCS (really cool stuff).  This lost benefit will not be compensated.  The 
exclusion of certain competing uses is necessary but not sufficient to ensure that society reaps the maximum benefit 
from the radio spectrum.  A means through which spectrum users can bear the costs they impose on others by excluding 
them is also necessary.

<http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2008/07/tv-white-spaces-and-the-tragedy-of-the-commons/>http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/2008/07/tv-white-spaces-and-the-tragedy-of-the-commons/

Low-power radio sets unnerving 'white spaces' precedent <http://www.totaltele.com/View.aspx?ID=101668&t=2> 
http://www.totaltele.com/View.aspx?ID=101668&t=2
By John Letzing
28 July 2008
Companies hoping to expand online presence facing same opponents that quashed plans for low-power radio expansion.
Government engineers have been hauling test equipment through suburban Maryland this week, to determine whether 
unlicensed use of so-called "white spaces" spectrum can expand Internet access without ruining television reception.
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But for the companies pushing for use of the white spaces to boost their online presence, including Google Inc. and 
Microsoft Corp., even a stellar testing outcome and Federal Communications Commission approval is no guarantee of 
success.

That much was demonstrated by a similar effort years ago to expand access to another media: radio.

While it won FCC approval in 2000, an effort to permit a new low-power radio broadcasters to take to the airwaves was 
later quashed on Capitol Hill by the influence of the National Association of Broadcasters, the same opponent now faced 
by proponents of white spaces use.

And in an election year, the Washington-based NAB, the trade association representing thousands of TV and radio 
stations scattered throughout the country, may now hold particular sway over Congress.

Just as Google, Microsoft, Motorola Inc. and others are seeking to prove that connecting to the Web via the unlicensed 
white spaces won't interfere with licensed broadcasts, a number of activists, religious organizations and other groups 
mounted a drive roughly a decade ago to prove to the FCC that expanding the number of available radio stations wouldn't 
impede reception for existing stations.

Following a raft of tests, the FCC agreed. But in the wake of a subsequent lobbying effort by the NAB, Congress 
drastically curtailed the radio effort.

Now, technology companies eyeing the white spaces must ponder a similar fate.

"Congress in some sense serves as a court of appeals to any FCC action," said Blair Levin, a Stifel Nicolaus & Co. 
analyst and a former FCC chief of staff."And with any issue involving the NAB, they're extremely well-represented in 
terms of their ability to deal with members of Congress."

Ed Thomas, a lobbyist representing Google, Microsoft and others pushing for white spaces use, acknowledged it may be an 
unfortunate time to run up against the NAB."It's an election year and there's a bunch of broadcasters who certainly are 
of interest for those running for office, so how much influence that may or may not have, I don't know," Thomas said.

The NAB argues the unlicensed use of white spaces that the technology companies are seeking -- making remote, 
over-the-air access to the Web as easy as picking up a free Internet signal at a café, for example -- will interfere 
with digital TV broadcasts.

NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said the organization has already made some inroads with legislators on the issue."We're 
not going to be engaging in threats or anything, but about 70 members of Congress have already sent letters in 
expressing concern" about white spaces interference, Wharton said.

The NAB made a similar argument when it opposed the addition of low-power radio stations.

"There are some similarities, in that there's this fundamental question of interference," Levin said."There's always 
interference, it's just a question of what's an acceptable level."

'Like a tennis match'

To be sure, the white spaces group faces a number of opponents in addition to the NAB, and many also carry impressive 
political clout.

For starters, CTIA, the association of wireless telecommunications service providers that includes AT&T Inc. and 
Verizon Wireless, has opposed the effort.

But it's the NAB has nearly unparalleled influence in Washington, analysts say.

"They were our biggest opponents," recalled Peter Franck, an Oakland, Calif., attorney who represented organizations 
that clashed with the NAB and others over the expansion of low-power radio.

Franck said that following the FCC's approval of new low-power broadcasts, a bill was introduced in Congress that 
nonetheless severely restricted the number of low-power stations that could be packed on listeners' dials in any one 
broadcasting area -- effectively reducing it to "a rural and small-town sort of thing," he said.

While that bill was blocked, the legislation was later attached to a separate, government funding bill that President 
Clinton signed near the end of his second term.

"He wasn't going to shut down the whole government for us," Franck said.

Now, however, Franck speculated that the NAB may not be quite the power it once was.

In addition, while the proponents of low-power radio were generally non-profit organizations, the white spaces 
coalition is armed with more advanced technology -- and counts a number of multi-billion dollar corporations with an 
established Washington, D.C., presence as members.

The NAB's Wharton said his organization is simply concerned about the well-being of TV viewers."Members of Congress 
don't want their constituents'[digital TV] service to be disrupted, so they have a vested interest in this," Wharton 
said.

But Wharton said it's premature to envision a white spaces reversal in Congress similar to that handed to low-power 
radio proponents."I suppose it could have a precedent, but we're way too early," he said.

Bruce Oberlies, Motorola's senior director for advanced technology and strategy, concurred."It's only a 'what if,'" 
Oberlies said.

Representatives from Google and Microsoft referred questions to the Wireless Innovation Alliance, a group that 
represents them and others including Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. on the white spaces issue.

Lobbyist Thomas said the group's making sure to have its own position heard in Congress as well.

"We're working at the FCC and on the Hill to convince the parties this is in the public interest," Thomas said.

"Hopefully, we'll be more persuasive than the broadcasters, but bottom line, Congress trumps the FCC."



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