700MHz Auction Starts Today!

Say "goodbye" to TV over the air, and hopefully "hello" to a faster, more competitive, easier to use data environment.
It all depends on who wins this auction, and the FCC will be posting info on their site.
With the USA falling farther and farther behind every other industrialized country in terms of broadband reach AND speed of our network (coupled with the fact that with no true competition in the ISP arena thanks to a collusive market, we pay more for less), it's getting more and more depressing to think that we invented the damn thing (the internet that is ... I know I know CERN and all that other mess... but come on).
This auction could be a watershed moment in the history of telecommunications. It could radically change how we consume data, how we pay for it. It could help spread fast cheap access to even the most disadvantaged or rural.

Or it could get gobbled up by some mega-corp and we'll continue to pay more for less, subsidizing these industries with tax dollars, paying for horrible service, and languishing behind the rest of the world.

I'll push it even farther. This could seal our irrelevance to the rest of the world. There, I said it.

Anywho, check out the auction at the FCC site, and if you really want to learn more about the players involved, and what impact this could have on us Amuricans, Gizmodo had a great write up that you should check out.

Charting the $480 billion US spectrum giveaway

A story out of Ars Technica,
I can't say I'm surprised that our federal government would practically give away air worth billions of dollars. They've demonstrated time and again, that they have no working knowledge of, do not value, and seem to fear anything remotely "techie".
A report on spectrum lobbying from the New America Foundation argues that the FCC has given away up to $480 billion in spectrum rights since 1993. Here's how taxpayers are being cheated.

"The giveaway that Snider's talking about isn't a massive grant of free spectrum to corporate interests; instead, it's something much more subtle and far more difficult for the public to understand. To understand why Snider considers this a "giveaway," let's first look at the difference between the amount of money the government has actually received for licenses since 1993 and the amount of money that such licenses are worth."

read more | digg story

Here's hoping a good chunk of air goes to Google in 2009....

Awesome FCC Info Regarding Sirius/XM Merger - I Didn't Write This Edition

Hey all, this is a follow up to my previous story about the FCC, Sirius, and XM. An Anonymous commenter left this great comment with some awesome info and links. Rather than try and write up a post (or series of posts, come on we all know publishing numbers matter, god bless Analytics), I'm just going to post this up as my favorite comment of the week.

Anonymous said...

After a year of heavy promotions, there is no consumer interest in HD Radio:

"Sirius, XM, and HD: Consumer interest reality check"

"While interest in satellite radio is diminishing, interest in HD shows no signs of a pulse."

http://www.hear2.com/2007/02/sirius_xm_and_h.html

"What kind of digital radio are listeners searching for?"

http://www.hear2.com/2006/10/what_kind_of_di.html

"HD Radio on the Offense"

"But after an investigation of HD Radio units, the stations playing HD, and the company that owns the technology; and some interviews with the wonks in DC, it looks like HD Radio is a high-level corporate scam, a huge carny shill."

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/2007-03-07/music/hd-radio-on-the-offense

"RW Opinion: Rethinking AM’s future"

"Making AM-HD work well as a long-term investment is seen as an expensive and risky challenge for most stations and their owners. There is the significant downside of potential new interference to some of their own AM analog listeners as well as listeners of adjacent-channel stations."

http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0044/t.557.html

April 1, 2007 6:22 AM

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FCC might be holding up Sirius / XM Merger ???

According to the FCC, apparently it's now BAD for the consumer when media outlets consolidate ... which is funny? I seem to remember back during the Michael Powell days that media consolidation was some how GOOD for the consumer ... weird...

Anywho, apparently NOW, it's bad so it's causing friction for the Sirius/XM merger. The argument was that this merger wouldn't affect customers since there was a proliferation of competition from services like HD Radio, and products like iPods ... neither of which have ANYTHING to do with satellite radio ...

"A recent FCC analysis of satellite competition determined that the relevant market for satellite radio consists solely of Sirius and XM...[and that]...other audio services such as terrestrial radio (including HD Radio), iPods, and Internet radio are not competitive substitutes."


READ THE REST HERE


I totally agree with the FCC for once. Saying iPods provide adequate competition is (to me) kinda like saying DVD's are direct competition for Digital Cable.
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