FCC Approves White Space Usage: MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer November 5, 2008

Yesterday's election helped CNN.com earn a record traffic day. The political web site enjoyed 27 million uniques for 276 million page views yesterday, more than five-times the estimated comScore average of 5 million a day.

The FCC approved the acquisition of Alltel by Verizon and the merger of Clearwire and Sprint. Verizon spent $28 billion to acquire Alltel, which will make it the number one mobile provider in terms of subscribers. Sprint's $14.5 billion deal will merge its WiMax business with Clearwire's, which will help in development of WiMax technology.

In a 5-0 decision, the FCC ruled that it will allow independent devices to operate on unlicensed white space. The approval, which will let devices run on the unused airwaves between television channels, is being panned by Broadcasters, while Internet companies like Google, Microsoft and Intel are celebrating. Google co-founder Larry Page was quoted saying, "'Wi-Fi on steroids,' since these spectrum signals have much longer range than today's Wi-Fi technology and broadband access can be spread using fewer base stations resulting in better coverage at lower cost."

Plus, today's consulting question, "How soft is the scatter market?" Shelly has the answer on today's MediaBytes.

Shelly Palmer is a consultant and the host of MediaBytes a daily show featuring news you can use about technology, media & entertainment. He is Managing Director of Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC and the author of Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV (2008, York House Press). Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NY (the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy® Awards). You can join the MediaBytes mailing list here. Shelly can be reached at shelly@palmer.net