FCC chair eyes fallow TV airwaves for broadband

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin proposed opening up unused portions of the television airwaves known as "white spaces" to deliver wireless broadband service. The proposal is aimed at bringing affordable high-speed Internet connections to more Americans. Chairman Martin issued his proposal ahead of the official release of a technical report by FCC engineers (see links below) concluding that potential interference could be eliminated with the use of wireless transmitter devices that rely on spectrum-sensing and "geo-location" technologies to detect and avoid nearby broadcast signals. The plan could run into opposition from the nation's big television broadcasters, which have argued that the use of the fallow spectrum to deliver wireless Internet services could disrupt their over-the-air signals.