Don't Let Google Freeze the Airwaves

[Commentary] Google is now pushing a "free the airwaves" campaign, rallying to open TV band frequencies for new wireless services. This is a superb idea. But Google's proposal would actually freeze the airwaves allocated to television prior to World War II. Innovative services would be lost for yet another generation. Were the FCC to "succeed," approving devices for unlicensed use of the band, it would squander any opportunity to reorganize the band and unleash its vast utility. Government management of the white spaces is doomed to fail. That is vividly seen in the wrong question now asked by the FCC: What devices can share the TV band without disturbing current broadcasts? But there is no reason to freeze TV channels in place. The right question is: How can we reorganize TV broadcasts to maximize wireless benefits? Transmissions could be better coordinated. Such innovative moves, however, rely on having spectrum owners.

(Hazlett, a professor of law and economics at George Mason University, is a former FCC chief economist. Smith, a professor of economics and law at Chapman University, is a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics.)