The Lobby that Cried Wolf: New America Foundation Releases New Paper on NAB's Predictable Strategy

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Date: October 29, 2008 12:24:06 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] The Lobby that Cried Wolf: New America  
Foundation Releases New Paper on NAB's Predictable Strategy

The Lobby that Cried Wolf: New America Foundation Releases New Paper  
on NAB's Predictable Strategy

Dear Colleagues:

Over the past week, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has  
bombarded Congress with a flurry of doomsday pronouncements, claiming  
broadcast television is under attack by the FCC and advocates seeking  
to open unused TV channels (TV white spaces) for wireless broadband  
and mobile Wi-Fi devices.

If all of this sounds a bit familiar, that's because broadcasters  
always scream "interference!" when faced with any new competition or  
use of the empty TV band spectrum they are hoarding.  In 1974  
broadcaster's tried to kill off a nascent TV service called cable  
television, claiming it would destroy "free" TV.  And in 1998, when  
the FCC wanted to open up the FM band to low-power community radio  
stations, the claim was intolerable "interference" (later proved  
false).  In 2001, when the first DVRs came out -- and now again in  
2008, with TV white spaces -- broadcasters are predicting the imminent  
destruction of broadcast television.

The unfortunate reality is that NAB lobbyists will say just about  
anything to maintain their exclusive grip on the broadcast spectrum.   
As former New York Times reporter and author, Joel Brinkley,  
observed:  "Above all else, [broadcasters hold] sacred the eleventh  
commandment: Thou Shalt Not Give Up Spectrum."

In "The Lobby that Cried Wolf," the New America Foundation provides a  
glimpse of broadcasters' lobbying path of deception, highlighting the  
repeated NAB campaigns to keep others out of their spectrum and  
providing parallels with the current campaign against white space  
devices.

For the past 50 years, broadcasters and their respective lobbies have  
relied upon a broken record of scare tactics, gross exaggerations and  
underhanded attacks to oppose some of the most important communication  
advances of the 20th and 21st centuries including cable TV, the VCR,  
the DVR, FM radio, satellite television and radio, and even cellular  
phones.

In 2000, the FCC approved low-power FM community radio stations to  
operate on the third-adjacent channel after thoroughly examining  
interference issues.  In response, the NAB told Congress "this is a  
prescription for chaos on the airwaves" and flooded the Hill with  
copies of an infamous audio disc that simulated the supposed  
interference from low-power stations.  Three years later, an  
independent study for the FCC by Mitre Corp., a military contractor,  
found no significant interference issues with the FCC's proposed LPFM  
service.

The NAB predicted similar interference nightmares in regards to low- 
power television stations and wireless microphones. Yet, today there  
are more than 836 low-power FM stations, 2,900 low-power TV stations  
and more than 400,000 wireless microphones operating throughout the TV  
band on an unlicensed basis.  Despite the NAB's pronouncements,  
neither chaos nor harmful interference ensued.

You can download a copy of the paper at <http://www.newamerica.net/publications/policy/lobby_cried_wolf 
>.

Michael Calabrese
Director, Wireless Future Program
calabrese () newamerica net
202-986-9453

###

New America's Wireless Future Program develops and advocates policy  
proposals aimed at achieving universal and affordable wireless  
broadband access, expanding public access to the airwaves and updating  
our nation's communications infrastructure in the digital era. For  
more information, visit http://www.newamerica.net/programs/wireless_future 
.
The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy  
institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the  
next generation of challenges facing the United States.  Headquartered  
in Washington D.C., New America also has offices in California.
RSS Feed: <http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress>




-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com