Is the FCC ready to look at renovating the beachfront property? The folks at the CommLaw Blog think so. They are daring to ask the question “What is more in the public’s interest? Using the beachfront spectrum for more broadband internet or for free over-the-air broadcasting?.” Their vehicle for gauging the public interest is in the economic value to society in the form of jobs, growth and innovation. By casting their net in this manner, the FCC appears to have front-loaded the argument in favor of the innovation bringing broadband over the buggy-whip driven local television broadcasts.
Once this debate gets outside the walls of the FCC, expect the hand-wringing, flag-waving and the tea-partying to begin. Although, yet again we will undoubtedly find some strange bedfellows. After all, what would be more libertarian and free market driven than letting the use of these airwaves find their highest value on the open market?
