And now a moment of…whitespace
I am taking a break from the excellent TCEA conference to discuss a news flash that appeared on my Twitter feed.
I believe I wrote about this concept of “whitespace” a few months ago and how it applies to some really cool technology. The concept derives from the broadband spectrum used for broadcast television and the cable network. Now as you may have heard, the cable companies are trying to push to a completely digital environment and out of the old analog television spectrum.
So…what happens to that old analog spectrum?
Several large technology corporations (including Google) have paired up to develop a new whitespace network plan. Google has been the biggest proponent for this. They want to return the American Broadcast System owned by the people back to the people.
If we all move to this new digital signal, these companies want to team together to transition that analog line into free wireless broadband signals. In other words, the line goes down and they have complete access to convert it to a new wireless broadband network into each home. The access will be wireless and accessible by any device.
Free?
Free because the network is owned by the people and for the people. Google has been on the front lines with the FCC about restoring this system back to the power of the people. In November, the FCC did approve to keep the spectrum open so that they could continue looking into establishing this idea.
Microsoft, Google, and Motorola are all working on this now. In June/July, when we finally make the switch – they can start developing the new system without us interfering on their datalines. I am sure we may have streaming Google Ads on our new wireless and broadband access, though.
But = wireless broadband access streaming on that old analog whitespace system? How cool is that? And does this mean wireless access redundancy in every neighborhood? How does this play out for CIPA and content filtering now?
