Digital Expansion

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.

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.

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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Please read PPH's analysis of this draft resolution.

Resolution urging the Federal Communications Commission to refrain from implementing proposed regulatory amendments that would allow portable devices to operate on the white space radio spectrum without ensuring that such amendments will not negatively impact television broadcasters, performing artists, professional sports leagues, and all incumbent wireless microphone users.

By Council Member Brewer and The Speaker (Council Member Quinn)

Whereas, The term “white spaces” refers to the unlicensed or unused portion of the radio spectrum found between television broadcast channels; and

On Wednesday, September 24, City Councilmember Gale Brewer and Speaker Christine Quinn introduced a resolution urging the Federal Communications Commission to refrain from certifying white space devices, which the resolution claims would be "devastating" to "the incomparable mystique and excitement of the City of New York’s theatre district" and would "[jeopardize] the health and safety of performers, technicians and stagehands."

"White spaces" are the unlicensed or unused portion of the radio spectrum between television broadcast channels. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) originally put those spaces there to minimize interference between analog television broadcast channels. In February 2009, television transmissions will turn digital and diminish the need for white spaces as a buffer between channels because digital signals use less space when traveling through the airwaves.

Abdulai Bah of the Community News Production Institute takes pre-paid calling cards to task and suggests that white space devices could save immigrants a load of cash.

The New York City Council has scheduled a hearing for September 29 on the unused TV channels known as "white spaces." If, like most low-income New Yorkers, you rely on your cellular phone more than a landline or a laptop or a desktop, then your whole communications future is at stake with this issue. If you hate your cell phone provider or you like the idea of sharing Internet connections, then this is for you.

Google, in coalition with public interest groups, is trying to draw support for the opening of the unused television airwaves with it's Free the Airwaves project. The unused airwaves, known as "white spaces," are open spaces between digital TV channels. If the FCC allows for open access to the airwaves, there is potential for the development of new technology that will make it possible to provide wireless broadband Internet access over the signal, potentially making it possible to allow for universal access to the Internet.

New York - People's Production House and Common Cause/New York called on the New York State Public Service Commission yesterday to reject a “Network Review Plan” proposed by Verizon, barring significant changes to the plan.  Verizon’s review plan was submitted July 16, on the eve of the PSC's review of the Verizon cable franchise for New York City. It is intended to remedy the high proportion of Verizon's FiOS installations that do not comply with the National Electric Code or Verizon’s own Methods & Procedures.

The Broadway League, the national trade association for the Broadway industry, opposes the certification of white space devices. The saddest part of the current position of the Broadway League is not that it asks us to sacrifice low-income New Yorkers so they can continue producing plays and musicals. The saddest part is that we can keep the Broadway shows we love and end the digital divide. The Council resolution should be phrased in this positive, hopeful light.