The DC Examiner reports that one of Barack Obama’s telecom advisers, the vice president of Clearwire and an Obama donor, is advising him to delay the television broadcast change over from analog to digital. Why? Because it will benefit his company while hurting his competitors. Here’s how:
After years of wrangling and negotiating, Congress and the FCC set February 17, 2009–between the Superbowl and the NCAA tournament–as the date for all TV broadcasting to switch to digital.
This will free up a huge swath of frequencies, which the FCC has auctioned off to other telecommunications firms. One buyer was Verizon, who will use this spectrum for its wireless broadband networks (again, providing Internet for Blackberries and similar devices).
Specifically, they will use this spectrum to launch their fourth-generation wireless broadband network (or “4G” as it’s known, in contrast to the “3G” you hear about with today’s iPhones and Blackberries). So, Verizon’s 4G network awaits the transition to digital TV.
But Sprint and Clearwire, on spectrum they already own, have begun launching their 4G network. That means Sprint is ahead of the competition in wireless Internet. It also means Sprint and Clearwire stand to benefit from Obama’s push to delay the transition to digital TV: The longer broadcasters use analog signals, the longer Verizon has to wait to get the spectrum it needs for its 4G network–which gives Sprint a longer honeymoon as the only network offering 4G speeds.
Well, shazzam! Obama has said that he wants to delay the switchover, and the Democrats dutifully proposed a bill that would delay the change to mid-June. Republicans, however, successfully defeated it. The bill will return, and once Obama is inaugurated, he will probably put the full court press to the deal to make sure his buddy’s company gets the benefit.
Thanks to David Freddoso for reminding me of this story.
