What Is Your TV Spectrum Really Worth?

[Commentary] Broadcasters and many other spectrum licensees are feeling like targets after the Federal Communications Commission's Blair Levin said, "This is already clear from the record: A key input is spectrum and everybody agrees there is not enough of it. Moreover, demand curves from new uses by smart phones suggest a massive increase in demand ahead for that input." The FCC may not yet have broadcasters in its sights yet, but there is a growing body of work by academics, policymakers, broadband advocates and think tankers that argues that broadcasting is a gross waste of spectrum and that its many megahertz should be auctioned off, leased or reallocated to some better purpose like wireless broadband. Broadcasters' natural inclination at this point is to go on the defensive and start hollering about how the spectrum-grubbing broadband lobby wants to deprive the poor and elderly of their free TV service. But that would be a mistake. Levin's real mission last week was not to scare everybody, but to prompt broadcasters and other spectrum stakeholders to participate in the FCC broadband inquiry, to bring their best ideas to the party. Broadcasters should accept the invitation. Opportunity may be lurking in Levin's broadband exploration. Let's face it: There may be more value in using broadcast spectrum for broadband access than in airing reruns of Three's Company and The Brady Bunch. If this is so, wouldn't it be nice if the owners of the spectrum were in a position to capture the extra value?