wrote:

In Feb 2009, all TVs will become digital. As a result, analog TV
spectrum will become available.

It will be auctioned off. Chances are it will go to big companies,
making their monopoly even bigger.

I went looking for discussion on what is likely to happen. Ivor points
out that it will be 2012 before the change is made in the UK, yet the
first article I found is from the UK. Apparently they're actually
thinking about this, studying it, and examining what the best use would
be for the resources. (See http://preview.tinyurl.com/3p3uvo )

US organizations are, too. At
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/10349.cfm I found this quote:
Advocacy groups such as Public Knowledge and Consumers Union say the
auction represents the best and last opportunity for large portions of
the U.S. to have a third broadband provider that competes with the cable
and telecom giants. These groups are asking the FCC to require that part
of the auctioned spectrum be sold with so-called open-access rules
attached, meaning the winner of the auction would have to sell wholesale
access to the network to any company that wants it.

These frequencies would be better
used if it went to amateur radio, public non-license radio ( like FRS
and CB is now), and small business (such as letting small business
offer commercial radio services).

Apparently 24 MHz of the available 84 MHz has already been earmarked for
public safety. Is the current allocation of two-way public non-license
or amateur-radio-license spectrum sufficiently saturated to justify
additional allocation? Personally I don't think so, but maybe in urban
areas things are different.

Alot of innovative applications will result. And it will create jobs
and new businesses that would otherwise not exist. Also, it would
increase public interest and involvement.

What innovative applications would you anticipate? I don't see either
commercial or amateur radio services expanding just because they have
additional spectrum. Where's the demand? Who is going to buy radio
service when they already have a cell phone in their hand?

If we do nothing, these frequencies will be lost. Lets lobby now.

It's probably too late to do any effective lobbying on this issue. But
the frequency spectrum won't be "lost"; it will be used somehow. The
question is whether it will be used in the "best way".

Problem is, different people have different ideas of what the "best way"
might be. I don't envy the FCC the policy task of walking the tightrope
between letting market forces decide and placing curbs in place to
prevent "big money" from becoming "bigger money".

73, Steve KB9X