Why TV Needs To Keep Its Spectrum

A Q&A with Association for Maximum Service Television President David Donovan. Asked about reallocating broadcast TV spectrum for wireless broadband, Donovan answers, "[W]ireless reception of video content is the future."

He estimates over-the-air only homes in the US will increase by 36% between now and 2014 when approximately 59% of all homes will have at least one TV set that relies on over-the-air signals. Broadcasting, he says, the most efficient way to distribute high-quality video content in real time. When combined with DVR technology in receivers, it becomes an on-demand system.

He warns that services provided by local television stations -- provision of news, emergency information and public interest programs -- cannot be duplicated in an all-cable world because: 1) local cable news channels either are joint ventures or supported directly by local television stations, 2) we'd likely only see one local cable news channel per market, and 3) cable systems do not have universal reach.