Digital Expansion

Testimony of Joshua Breitbart, Policy Director of People's Production House before the New York City Council Committee on Technology in Government regarding the Digital Television Transition

November 24, 2008

On Thursday, Novemember 20th at 9pm, Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) will air "The Internet is Serious Business." People's Production House worked with CUP Teaching Artist Helki Frantzen and students from City-As-School to produce this investigation into the physical infrastructure that undergirds the Internet. Check it out in Manhattan on Channel 34.

People's Production House commends the Federal Communication Commission on their vote to allow unlicensed access to the unused portion of the television airwaves know as white spaces. The FCC's 5 to 0 vote in favor of opening the white space spectrum is a significant step towards delivering lower-cost, high speed Internet across the nation. It will help to close the gap between those who have Internet and those who do not.

Written Testimony of Joshua Breitbart, Policy Director, People's Production House, before the New York City Council Committee on Technology in Government on the topic of "Requiring that all public meetings be webcast (Prop. Int. No. 533-A)”

On October 28, People's Production House, along with Media Alliance, Media Mobilizing Project, and the Texas Media Empowerment Project, submitted a comment to the Federal Communications Commission regarding the white spaces proceeding. In it, we urge the Commission to act quickly to approve unlicensed mobile devices to operate in the television white spaces. The comment is below and is also available as a PDF. If you would like to submit your own comment on this matter, you can do so until Friday, October 31 using the FCC's online form.

The Federal Communications Commission seems poised to open the airwaves at their November 4 meeting after their engineers gave white space devices the green light earlier this month. But City Council and many of New York's Congressional Representatives, heeding corporate broadcasters over digital expansion advocates, are calling for further delay in a process that has already dragged on for six years. We need New Yorkers to step up and demand public access to public airwaves. Call your Congressional Representative now. For help, use this tool from Free Press.

• produced by Christine Lewis
• in 2008

Next year, television broadcasters will move to digital broadcasting, automatically creating enormous unused spectrum between the channels. The unused spectrum, otherwise known as White Spaces, will allow the public to use it with broadband-enabled mobile devices that would significantly reduce the digital divide.

CNPI reporter, Christine Lewis of Domestic Workers United files this report for Free Speech Radio News.

Joly from the New York chapter of the Internet Society recorded the full conference. You can see his video and listen to his audio at the ISOC-NY website.

Council Member Gale M. Brewer chaired the hearing and the witnesses were:

Panel 1
Mary Landolfi - Pres. American Federation of Musicians Local 802
Ira Mont - VP Actors Equity Association
Laurie Baskin - Director of Government & Education Programs. Theatre Communications Group
Heidi Mathis - Corporate Relations Manager at The Shubert Organization / Broadway League

Panel 2
Stuart Overby - Senior Director, Global Spectrum Strategy. Motorola, Inc
Marc Berejka - Sr. Director, State Affairs & Public Policy, Microsoft Corp.

Broadband Internet service is available for nearly every house in New York City, yet less than half have adopted it. Barely a quarter of low income households pay for a high speed connection at home.

As PPH Policy Director Joshua Breitbart explains in this audio clip, Internet access on mobile phones brings connectivity to people where they  are on devices that they have already decided to pay for. This is a better way to get people online than trying to convince them to buy a new machine and pay for a new service.

• produced by Joshua Breitbart
• in 2008

At the City Council hearing on the white spaces resolution, Committee Chair Gale Brewer asked about the cost of white space devices. Dana Spiegel from NYCwireless explained that, like most new technology, the cost would start high then go down over time. PPH Policy Director Joshua Breitbart pointed out that the true cost would actually be a savings compared to what we spend now for Internet access and mobile phone calls. In this audio clip, he explains how delivering Internet connectivity to people's mobile phones is the most effective way to close the digital divide between those with high speed Internet access at home and those without.

Good morning. My name is Joshua Breitbart. I am the Policy Director of People's Production House. People's Production House provides young people, immigrants, and low-wage workers with a comprehensive education for the information age, combining media production, media literacy and media policy. We work in public schools and with community organizations in all five boroughs.

We ask all organizations and individuals in New York City to endorse the simple letter below by contacting us directly. Thank you.

Resolution urging the Federal Communications Commission to implement regulatory amendments that would allow portable devices to operate on the white space radio spectrum in order to close the digital divide and stimulate investment in new technology without  negatively impacting television broadcasters, performing artists, professional sports leagues, and all incumbent wireless microphone users.

Have you ever wondered how so many inventions – TV, radio, cell phones, wi-fi, microwave ovens and more – can share the airwaves? And why, with such an abundant resource, is so much of it controlled by the same few corporations? Here's a 3:30 explanation.

The Indypendent newspaper asked me to write an article for their October 3 issue explaining the importance of white spaces. (Updated following the hearing.)

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