Battle gets down and dirty over TV white spaces
US - Ten months before the nation flips to digital television, US technology companies and TV broadcasters are fighting over the virtual remote, with different ideas of what to do with the unused airwaves. In South Africa last year, Cabinet announced that the digital signal for SA viewers will be switched on from 1 November 2008; and though the migration will take three years to complete, will the country see a similar vie for TV "white space"?
Google, Microsoft and others on Tuesday are launching an advertising and lobbying blitz to convince Capitol Hill that these unoccupied airwaves, or "white spaces", could be used for affordable high-speed Internet service, greatly benefiting rural areas and spurring competition and innovation.
Tech companies say the technology is there to allow low-powered, unlicensed devices, such as cell phones, laptops and BlackBerrys, to operate in the empty spectrum without interfering with over-the-air TV programming and wireless microphone signals.
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