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Microsoft Renews FCC Fight Over TV 'White Space'

Posted Aug 13, 07 9:28 AM CDT in US,  Technology 

(Newser) – Regulators won't OK Microsoft's plan to give consumers access to the Internet through unused TV airwaves, but the firm isn't taking no for an answer. The FCC has already nixed a protoype that caused static on existing broadcasts, but Microsoft says it now has a version that works, and a filing today will ask regulators to reconsider the initial ruling.

A coalition of high-tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, and Dell, wants the FCC to make available the airwaves that will fall out of use when TV signals become digital in 2009. Using vacant TV airwaves, or "white space," to provide Internet access would make it cheaper and easier, the Washington Post reports. But broadcasters fear programming interruptions.

Source Washington Post

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Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates speaks to the Imagine Cup finalists during a meeting, Tuesday, June, 26, 2007, in Redmond, Wash. More than 40 university students from 10 countries qualified for the Imagine...   (Associated Press)
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates speaks to the Imagine Cup finalists during a meeting, Tuesday, June, 26, 2007, in Redmond. More than 40 university students from 10 countries qualified for the Imagine Cup...   (Associated Press)
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates listens to the Imagine Cup finalists during a meeting, Tuesday, June, 26, 2007, in Redmond, Wash. More than 40 university students from 10 countries qualified for the Imagine...   (Associated Press)
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