The deadline for finally flicking the switch to digital and kicking analogue out of the picture altogether in the USA has now been postponed until June in order to allow more time for consumers to get the necessary equipment installed to be able to receive the new digital only signal on their television sets.
The switch over date was initially intended to be February 17th but the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) actually approved delaying the deadline back in November.
Many technology giants joined forces to lobby the FCC about making the white spaces that will be vacated by analogue available for an open wireless broadband network allowing devices like computers and mobiles to access the internet.
The FCC finally agreed despite fierce protests by some broadcasters and several other groups who were concerned that this could cause interference to existing TV channels.
The FCC has agreed to open up some of the white spaces for broadband but they stipulated the need for an online database to show what channels were available.
Consequently The White Spaces Database Group is being set up and will include companies such as Google, Comsearch, Dell, HP, Motorola and Neustar, who will work with the FCC to get the white spaces database up and running and offer recommendations on what the technical requirements of such an undertaking are.
The group said in a statement “With a goal of bringing the benefits of white spaces to consumers as soon as possible, the group intends to establish data formats and protocols that are open and non-proprietary, and will advocate that database administration be open and non-exclusive.”
The FCC did carry out some tests in real time using technology designed to sense other users in the spectrum but these weren’t always successful. However, they maintain that interference will be avoided by geo-location technology and using a database to identify available channels.
For those who aren’t aware what white spaces are they are the frequencies that are allocated to TV channels but which aren’t being used, basically the spaces in between the channels. The database needs to be set up to allow devices to find out what channels are available and which ones they are allowed to use so they don’t interfere with existing TV channels.
Google would like to see broadband in the white spaces happening in “months, not years” and we can understand why, they stand to gain a lot of revenue from it. Whether they manage to pull it off is another matter, we’ll just have to wait and see. If they do though, it will revolutionise the way we access the Internet.
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