Battle lines drawn in TV 'white spaces' debate

WASHINGTON, DC – Kelly Williams' position on having personal, portable devices operate unlicensed on the unused spectrum called white spaces between TV channels can be summed up thusly: "Go away."

Williams, the senior director of engineering and technology policy for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), staked out this inflexible position during a debate over the use of white spaces at the Wireless Communications Association this week, saying that having portable devices operate unlicensed on those spaces was a nonstarter. From the NAB's point of view, he said potentially having unlicensed portable devices on white spaces interfere with television-broadcast signals was completely unacceptable, and no amount of testing by the Federal Communications Commission could change the NAB's mind

The controversy over the use of unlicensed white spaces has been brewing for the past few years. On one side is the White Spaces Coalition, an industry group including Google, Dell, and other tech companies that has been lobbying the FCC to approve wireless devices that operate on white spaces. On the other side is the NAB, which has argued that using unlicensed personal, portable devices on white spaces would be detrimental to the entire broadcasting industry.

Recently, the FCC has been running several trials of so-called smart wireless-white-space devices that would lower their power or turn off completely in the presence of licensed spectrum devices. Thus, for instance, a Bluetooth handset operating unlicensed on white spaces might automatically flip off if it came close to a working television. Williams said that the current criteria for testing sensory-aware devices was woefully inadequate, however, because the sensory mechanisms being tested for the devices were incapable of intelligently interacting with other devices in the area. "Sensing is just a tool," he said. "If devices sense incorrectly, or if a device makes an incorrect decision and interferes with the television set, then somebody gets interfered with and the average consumer doesn't know why."

But for former FCC Bureau of Engineering and Technology chief Ed Thomas, the debate over allowing unlicensed use of white spaces boils down to whether you trust the FCC's professional acumen. Thomas told the WCA this week that if the FCC finally decided unlicensed portable, personal devices could operate on white spaces without interference, the NAB should accept its decision as a definitive and qualified judgment on the matter. 

Williams countered that it would be impossible for the FCC to approve correctly of using unlicensed portable devices on white spaces, because doing so inevitably would interfere with the rights of licensed spectrum holders. "We don't like transmitters that move around," he said. "I don't see how a truly personal and portable device can actually work on those white spaces because it would need to know at all times just how far away it is from a consumer's TV set, and also what channel that TV is set to. It can never know that."