Open mic

Time was when the bloody white- spaces spat was nice and neat, with mostly high-tech giants seeking more spectrum for Wi-Fi pitted against television broadcasters fearful of interference to digital signals from wireless devices that would operate in vacant TV channels. In short, a classic lobbying battle between two behemoths with the money and means abundantly capable of changing hearts and minds in this town.
But no, the Inside-the-Beltway Brawl has gone Hollywood, owing largely to the quirky pursuer-is-pursued wireless microphone dynamic. There is concern wireless microphones will be disrupted by WSD operations if allowed by the FCC. But perhaps the leading lady doth protest too much, with wireless mic guys now suddenly taking heat [not from klieg lights, either] because of the allegedly prolific number of illegal wireless microphone systems whose use, according to public-interest groups, could interfere with public-safety and commercial wireless systems in the 700 MHz band. Funny how the tables turned.
No matter, now everyone’s in on the act. Glamorous, glitzy venues that are home to wireless microphone use are falling over each other to volunteer their services to the FCC for field testing of white-spaces devices. This follows lab tests that yielded a few hiccups, but also gave credence that WSDs – using sensing and geo-location techniques – may indeed be able to operate in unoccupied broadcast frequencies without causing problems to others.
First it was Broadway. Then ESPN and the NFL offered their cooperation on WSD testing. More recently, NBC’s “Nashville Star,” said it was willing to host WSD testing during their show. And don’t forget POLYCOMM2008, the organization responsible with overseeing wireless mics for the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention. The group told the FCC it wanted to be counted among the coalition of the willing insofar as testing WSDs at the start of each convention.
All this must have FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s head spinning, seeing how a seemingly esoteric white-paces debate that should be confined to official Washington has the potential to spin off into a series of prime-time testing events with all the trappings of reality TV. If the sports-entertainment establishment can write the rest of the script, this thing could be headed for the Oscars and the Super Bowl. In other words, delayed until after Martin bows out at the FCC.