Hazlett - Analog switchoff goes unnoticed

Here's a cautionary tale from Thomas Hazlett in the FT on the problem with central planning of the airwaves and how political decisions made by the collusion of policy makers with business special interests can severely undermine the true interests of the public. Sadly, it is a lesson that, like the analog switchoff, few have noticed. Maybe THAT is the real cautionary tale.

The whole piece is worth reading but some summary parts:

When, in 1986, cell-phone makers and public safety agencies asked the Federal Communications Commission for a shot at using scores of idle TV channels, politically powerful TV stations quashed the idea. They hurriedly hatched a reason: extra frequencies had to be reserved for "advanced television." America, then reeling from Japan's emergence as a consumer electronics powerhouse, needed to develop its own cool video application and dominate the world. ...

In extending life-support to DTV signals that hog hugely valuable frequencies, consumers lose hundreds of billions worth of wireless service. The bandwidth available to iPhones, Blackberrys and GPhones and other emerging technologies would double were TV air waves to accommodate mobile apps as requested in 1985. ...

But here is the bottom line: the most valuable air waves on God's Green Earth will continue to be occupied by digital TV signals that few watch and none need, to provide a prop for a cosy deal between policy makers and broadcasters. That is the worst way to use radio spectrum in the Information Age.