I spent a lot of energy writing this past summer about how important to experimentation unlicensed uses of the "white spaces" are.  And if you search on this blog using "white spaces" you'll see a number of breathless posts about how key this entire endeavor is.

Now I know I'm right, because today the broadcast industry is marching on Capitol Hill, flags waving, guns booming, to make sure that no one ever gets to use these unused frequencies except them.  Their battle cry (invented by me):  "If we allow unlicensed, portable uses of these white spaces, broadcast television as we know it will come to an end."  (With thanks to Joel Brinkley's wonderful book, "Defining Vision.")  If these guys are this worried, something important must be going on.

Great headline in Broadcasting & Cable:  TV Industry Storms Hill, FCC Over White Spaces.  And this press release from the National Association of Broadcasters: Broadcasters, Sports Leagues, TV Set Makers Unite in Opposition to "White Space" Interference Zones.  Hear that coinage?  "Interference zones."  These aren't vacant places, these unused frequencies - they're places of great danger to all-American television, the thing that gets the words of the elected legislator across to his/her people, the thing we all grew up with.  "Hot zones."  "Interference zones."  Get it?  Toxic! Destructive!

There's another side to this battle.  The softer-voiced people (who know what they are talking about) at the New America Foundation will calmly tell you (if you are willing to listen) that in fact there are plenty of ways that new portable devices can avoid interfering with your television set.  Let's hope that someone's listening.  This is a central battle for innovation, and surely empirical evidence should carry some weight.