Wireless

President Barack Obama announced Thursday that he plans to nominate Meredith Attwell Baker, a former Commerce Department official, to fill the open Republican slot on the Federal Communications Commission.

Meredith Attwell Baker has been nominated by President Obama to fill one of two Republican seats on the five-member FCC.

Most recently Baker led the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA. This is the agency within the Commerce Department that was responsible for distributing the $40 coupons to consumers to convert their older analog TVs to receive digital TV signals. Baker came under fire earlier this year when the Commerce Department ran out of money for the coupons and millions of people were put on a waiting list.

Worries over the coupon program and a general feeling that too many people were unprepared for the switch to digital TV prompted Congress to push back the deadline to switch all the nation's high powered TV broadcasters from analog to digital from February to June.

With Baker's nomination to the FCC, President Obama has named his final nominee for the five member commission. Obama has already nominated Julius Genachowski to be FCC chairman. And he has also nominated Mignon Clyburn to fill a Democratic slot at the FCC. Clyburn is a member of South Carolina's public service commission. Commissioner Robert McDowell, who is a Republican, has been nominated for a second term on the commission.

For much of this year, the FCC has been operating with just three commissioners. Commissioner Michael Copps, a Democrat, is serving as acting chairman. After Genachowski is sworn in as chairman, Copps will step down from that position, but remain on the commission for at least another year. His term ends June 30, 2010. Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, a Democrat, plans to leave the commission after the new chairman takes his position. Adelstein has been nominated to head the Internet grant program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Genachowski and McDowell have already been approved by the Senate Commerce Committee and are awaiting full Senate confirmation. It's expected that Baker and Clyburn will go through the Senate approval process together.

Americans have survived the transition to digital television without incident.

The sky did not fall and there was no major shortage of digital converter boxes Friday when full-power broadcasters across the nation turned off their analog TV signals and started broadcasting only in digital. Calls to broadcasters and the Federal Communications Commission have been heavy the past few days, but officials say that the volume is within what the agency had expected.

"The digital TV transition is looking more like Y2K than the Bay of Pigs," Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said during a press conference on Saturday.

While the agency is quick to say that there is still work to be done in helping stragglers get over the air signals, it's clear commissioners were relieved and pleased with how smoothly the transition of some 971 stations to all digital broadcast went throughout the country on Friday.

Officials said Saturday that more than 317,000 consumer calls were made to the FCC on Friday, the highest number of calls the agency has ever had in one day. But the agency was prepared with call centers staffed 24 hours a day with a total of 4,000 live operators to answer questions. Even though call wait times were higher during peak periods, on average consumers had to wait less than five minutes for their call to be answered.

The largest volume of calls came from broadcast markets serving major cities, most notably Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.

The FCC's Web site also got a lot of activity on Friday with more than 3.1 million page views on the www.dtv,gov site. This is more page views than the site had in all of May.

About 30 percent of the calls to the FCC call centers concerned the operation of digital boxes, the agency said. And most of those calls were resolved were instructed to "re-scan" converter boxes in order to receive the digital channels that had moved to new frequencies. More than 20 percent of the calls handled by live agents dealt with reception issues.

FCC officials said that it was hard to say exactly how many people were not prepared when the switch happened and how many are still without over-the-air broadcast TV. But according to the latest Nielsen survey conducted before the June 12 deadline, less than 3 million households across the nation were unprepared. This figure was at least half of what it had been in February.

Retailers across the country were well-stocked with digital converter boxes for last-minute shoppers, which alleviated any concerns government officials had about equipment shortages. But the agency noted that in some locations antennas were in short supply. The FCC is suggesting that consumers look online if they are unable to get an antenna from a local retailer this weekend.

Even though there was no major catastrophe or mass out-cry from the public over the switch to digital TV, acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps said the agency's work is still not complete. He said that the FCC is continuing its grassroots efforts to ensure consumers, who still aren't getting over the air TV are not left behind. He used a baseball analogy to describe where he feels the agency is right now in the transition.

"We are safe on third right now," he said. "But I'm not going to close the books on the transition or declare a home run until we solve all the consumer problems."

Still, he also pointed out that there are likely far fewer unprepared viewers now than there would have been had broadcasters switched to digital on the original February 17 deadline. Fearing that consumers were not ready for the transition early this year, Congress voted to delay the mandated transition to June 12.

Since then FCC has thrown its efforts into overdrive, working with volunteers from the public and private sector to educate consumers and provide out reach programs to install digital converter boxes for consumers.

Copps expressed his pride for the efforts of his staff and the massive coordination among the different groups working to make the DTV transition smooth.

"We turned this little regulatory agency on the Potomac into a real grass roots organization," he said.

Copps and the other FCC commissioners said that "search and rescue" efforts will continue to find and help individuals who have been left behind in this transition. FCC volunteers along with volunteers from other groups, such as AmeriCorps, are on the ground manning walk-in centers where people still needing help can go to get help. These folks are also going to door-to-door in at-risk communities to make sure that people are able to get over-the-air TV.

Broadcasters will also continue to turn up the power on their transmitters, which could help some consumers receive TV signals that they might not have been able to get previously.

NEW YORK--Louise Coleman of Brooklyn, N.Y., did everything she was supposed to do before full-power TV broadcasters in the U.S. turned off their analog TV signals and started broadcasting only in digital, but she still found herself in a Best Buy store on the DTV deadline day, Friday, buying the last amplified digital antenna on the store shelf.

An indoor amplified HDTV antenna from RCA, which is owned by Audiovox

(Credit: Audiovox)

Coleman said she had gotten her $40 coupon from the government and bought a digital converter box for her older analog TV before the first deadline for the switch to digital TV on February 17. And she even bought a new flat screen digital-ready TV for her living room to replace an old analog TV that was on its last legs. So she thought she was prepared.

But when Coleman hooked up her digital converter box to her TV using her existing antenna on the eve of the digital transition, she discovered that she could get every regular broadcast TV station except channel 2. Meanwhile, using a new TV antenna with a built-in signal amplifier attached to her digital ready flat-screen TV, she was able to get all the regular channels, plus two extra channels. So off she went to Best Buy, to pick up the very last digital TV antenna with a signal amplifier the store had in stock at a cost of $50.

"I was prepared back in February for the switch," she said. "But then when I hooked up the box last night, I realized that I wasn't getting all the channels and that I probably needed a different antenna, so here I am again."

Coleman was not alone. While much of the hoopla around the digital TV transition for the past several months has focused on whether people with older analog TVs had a digital converter box to receive digital signals, a big issue for New Yorkers on Friday when broadcasters flipped the switch to digital was finding an antenna to improve their reception.

TV antennas were in short supply in New York City Friday when full power broadcast TV stations switched to digital-only TV broadcasts.

(Credit: Marguerite Reardon CNET )

By 1 p.m. EDT the Radio Shack on 23rd Street near Park Avenue had plenty of converter boxes in the store, but it was all out of antennas. The Best Buy just down the block on 23rd Street and 6th Avenue only had a few antennas left by mid-afternoon. And by 5 p.m. a Best Buy customer service representative at the store on Broadway and 62nd Street said that antennas were sold out in Manhattan. The only stores that still had them in stock were in Queens. As for converter boxes, the representative said the store still had 242 left.

Justin Barber, a spokesman for Best Buy, said that as of Friday evening, Best Buy stores across the country were meeting demand for converter boxes. He couldn't say whether other areas around the country were experiencing antenna shortages. But he said that the company had anticipated a spike in demand.

"We have been working with our antenna vendors to get additional inventory," he said. "That was definitely something we were planning for in anticipation of the DTV switch."

It's difficult to say how widespread the potential antenna shortage has been. Mark Wigfield, a spokesman for the Federal Communications Commission, said he hadn't heard that antennas were in short supply. But he said he wasn't surprised that antennas are in high demand.

"You really do need an antenna to receive digital signals," he said.

Best Buy had plenty of digital TV converter boxes on hand for last minute shoppers.

(Credit: Marguerite Reardon CNET )

But Wigfield added that people may not need to rush out and buy a new antenna. They may be able to use the existing antenna they had used to get analog TV signals. But he said that whether the antenna is new or old, consumers should make sure it supports both UHF and VHF radio frequencies. VHF antennas have traditionally been the rabbit-ear antennas that receive channels 2-13. And UHF antennas have been in the shape of a circle or bow-tie. These antennas are used to tune channels 14-51. Now that broadcasters are only transmitting in digital, it's important to have an antenna that supports both VHF and UHF, since many digital signals are now being broadcast in UHF frequencies.

In addition to VHF/UHF antennas there are also amplified antennas that can be used to improve reception. In the case of Louise Coleman, the amplified antenna, helped her get all the standard TV channels offered in her area, as well as two more channels she couldn't get with analog TV.

But retailers caution consumers that no antenna is a one-size fits all solution, something Richard Savelli, of Manhattan learned the hard way. Savelli had bought a basic rabbit ear-style antenna from Radio Shack when he picked up his converter box earlier this year, but even with the new antenna he isn't able to tune in some digital TV channels. He was in Best Buy on Friday looking to buy a new antenna. But the pickings were rather slim.

"It is frustrating," he said. "Nobody told me I needed a special antenna. But cable is too expensive and I don't want to give them my money."

Figuring out exactly which antenna to use can be a big challenge. The FCC has some information on its Web site www.dtv.gov that provides some help. But most of the information on the Internet is about outside antennas. Still, Wigfield recommends that consumers check out the FCC Website and use a tool that allows people to put in their address and ZIP code to see where their local station transmitters are located and what kind of signal they can expect to get. There is also information available about the different types of antennas.

CNET Reviews associate editor Matthew Moskovciak says that the position of the antenna is often more important than the type of antenna used. He also says that newer converter boxes work much better than ones made just a few years. Moskovciak, who reviews antennas and digital converter boxes for CNET, has also been an over-the-air TV viewer for the past three years. And he says he has spent hours testing and figuring out which solution works best for getting digital TV signals in his Astoria, Queens, apartment.

What he has discovered is that an expensive amplified antenna did not perform as well in his apartment as a much cheaper HDTV UHF/VHF antenna. He uses an HDTV "silver sensor" antenna that costs around $35, versus $50 or more for an antenna with a signal amplifier. And he says that he not only gets more TV channels than he did with analog, but that the TV channels he is getting are much better quality in high definition and with surround sound.

A silver sensor HDTV antenna from Philips that is similar to the one CNET editor Matthew Moskovciak uses.

(Credit: CNET)

But he adds that everyone's experience is different, and that some people living in a different part of the city or even someone in his own neighborhood or building whose apartment is facing a different direction could have an easier or a harder time getting a signal with the same equipment.

So what are consumers to do? Here are a few tips that can be used to help get you started setting up your antenna for digital reception.

•  Make sure you are using an antenna that supports UHF and VHF.

•  Move your antenna closer to a window. Often it's much easier to get reception from the window.

•  Point the antenna in the direction where you know local TV stations are broadcasting. You may have to adjust the antenna for different channels.

•  Rescan your digital converter box or tuner to find the channels in case the broadcaster has moved them.

•  If you're still unable to get a signal, try a new antenna. Moskovciak recommends not buying the most expensive antenna first. Instead, he says to work your way up, trying different antennas to see which one works best. Often a less expensive antenna may work better than a more expensive one. Best Buy has a 30-day return policy, so try as many antennas as you want, and return the ones that you don't need.

"It's definitely not easy to set this up perfectly," Moskovciak said. "I've spent a lot of time getting mine set up. I have my antenna taped to the wall and pointing toward the transmitters. But I really don't watch TV all that much, so I can't justify spending another $50 a month on cable."

In less than 24 hours all full-power broadcast TV stations in the U.S. will flip a switch to stop broadcasting their analog TV signals and will only broadcast TV signals in digital. And for millions who are unprepared, it could mean lights out on their favorite TV shows.

I know what you're thinking. "We've heard this before." In fact, you've probably been hearing about the transition to digital television for the last decade. You likely started seeing public service commercials last year encouraging you to buy a digital converter box to turn your old analog TV into one that could receive digital signals.

In early February another supposed deadline loomed. And then it didn't happen. Congress, fearing that too many people weren't prepared, postponed the switch, and more than 6 million procrastinators were saved.

But now the new deadline of June 12 is upon us once again. And this time it's for real. President Obama himself issued a statement last week:

"We have worked hand in hand with state and local officials, broadcasters and community groups to educate and assist millions of Americans with the transition...I want to be clear: there will not be another delay."

So here we are, less than a day away from the final transition. And despite months of public service announcements and more than $2 billion spent by the U.S. government to help people prepare, millions will still face a blank screen when they hit that little power button on their TV remotes starting Friday at 12:01 a.m.

The good news is that delaying the switch from February to June has given the Federal Communications Commission some time to ramp up efforts to get the public prepared. The agency has enlisted the help of dozens of groups including volunteers from AmeriCorps, civil rights groups, and even firefighters to help people purchase and install their converter boxes and antennas.

The FCC on Tuesday held a public hearing where representatives from different FCC bureaus and leaders from various groups involved in educating and preparing the public for the switch to digital TV broadcast updated commissioners on their progress. The FCC and Commerce Department have partnered with community organizations, churches, public safety departments, civil rights groups, consumer groups and broadcasters around the country to get people ready for the transition. These education and outreach programs were thrown into high gear after Congress voted to postpone the transition from February 17 to June 12.

FCC staff members as well as other experts agreed that the nation is much better prepared now for the DTV transition than it was in February. But they testified there will be some individuals and groups of people who will still experience problems when all full-powered TV stations in the country flip the switch to digital transmission.

One major issue cited by Eloise Gore, associate bureau chief of the FCC's media bureau, is that some 35 TV stations around the country are expected to go dark after the switch. Eighteen of these stations are having financial problems, she said. The other 17 stations are experiencing technical issues that are preventing them from switching to digital, Gore said during her testimony. These TV stations may be able to get their signals back online by the end of the year, she said.

Some of the TV stations that are expected to stop transmitting signals are affiliates of a major TV network, such as ABC, NBC, CBS, or Fox. But Gore added that viewers who lose these channels can scan for that network on a subchannel of another TV station and may be able to access that network.

Another potential problem cited by Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology for the FCC, is that even people who have gotten their new digital converter boxes or who have digital-ready TVs are having difficulty with their antennas. He said consumers need to make sure that they have antennas that can receive UHF and VHF signals. He also said some viewers may have to adjust their antennas to get the digital TV signals. And he noted that viewers who have already been using converter boxes and antennas to get over the-air-digital TV should still rescan their boxes to find the new digital signals, since some signals may have shifted after the cut-over to all-digital transmission.

Knapp also noted that his office has been updating information on its Web site about antennas and these other issues to help provide more information to consumers. The office has also been working with retailers so that they can provide better advice to consumers about which antenna will work best for them.

Already switched
Even though disruptions are expected after the June 12 deadline, the reality is that about half of the 1,800 full-power TV stations required to transition to digital transmission have already done so. Many of these stations have been transmitting in digital since the original February 17 deadline.

Education and outreach programs appear to be working. The most recent polling data from Nielsen suggests that only about 3 million households that rely on over-the-air TV are unprepared for the transition. This figure is down from about 6 million households that were unprepared leading up to the February 17 deadline. The people who are still left out appear to be procrastinators and some in at-risk groups, such as elderly, low-income, or rural viewers, said Cathy Seidel, chief of the FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. And the agency is continuing to target those groups.

The Commerce Department has been offering $40 coupons to help offset the cost of digital converter boxes to allow older TVs to receive digital signals. And government officials say there is enough money and vouchers available to continue the program until its deadline of July 31. But officials did warn that people applying for coupons now may not get them in time for the June 12 deadline.

Despite that good news, some of the commissioners still have concerns. Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell, who President Obama renominated for his current post, said he was concerned about what would happen after the transition was completed. Specifically, he wanted to know how the FCC would pay for the 4,000 telephone operators it planned to have in place to answer calls from consumers having problems. The FCC needs about $10 million to pay for these operators.

Bernadette McGuire-Rivera, associate administrator at the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said these funds could be allocated from the Commerce Department, which received $650 million from the economic stimulus package to help fund the DTV coupon program. The agency has the authority to distribute about $90 million of that money to the FCC for digital TV education efforts. The FCC has already received about $65 million of the funding, but the Commerce Department has been holding about $25 million in case more is needed for the coupon program.

McGuire-Rivera said she didn't see any major problems in getting the $10 million transferred from the Commerce Department to the FCC. But the transfer must still be approved by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, which she anticipates will happen.

Democratic Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein expressed his concern that roughly 31 percent of TV households in various markets will not have access to "analog nightlight" services. The "nightlight" program is a voluntary program in which TV stations agree to keep an analog signal turned on in addition to their digital signals to provide information about the DTV transition and to notify unprepared TV viewers of emergencies, such as hurricanes.

Only about 100 stations plan to maintain "analog nightlight" notifications after the switch. More than half of those nightlights will remain on air for 30 days. And the rest will be on for at least two weeks. In total, these stations will reach 69 percent of TV households.

Representatives from the FCC and the National Association of Broadcasters said they are still trying to recruit more TV stations to provide nightlight broadcasts, and they expect to add more to the list.

The Federal Communications Commission has revamped its DTV transition Web site in the hopes it can help more consumers prepare for the transition to digital television.

Democratic FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein unveiled the new site Monday at the National Association of Broadcasters' conference in Las Vegas. The primary purpose of the redesigned site was to make it more "consumer friendly." For example, the site includes a tool to search for local retailers selling converter boxes. It also has a quick tutorial on installing converter boxes and provides shopping information about the different products. And it provides tips for improving reception or troubleshooting reception issues.

Adelstein, who is expected to leave the commission soon for a post at the Department of Agriculture, has long supported the idea of a more coordinated education effort around the DTV transition.

Congress mandated that TV broadcasters cut off their analog signals and transmit only in digital to conserve valuable airwaves. And in 2005 it set the date of February 17, 2009, as the deadline for the transition. Over the next four years, the FCC, broadcasters and TV manufacturers were expected to prepare for the transition and educate the public.

But as the deadline approached, TV stations and broadcasters were ready for the transition, but consumers were not. In early February, lawmakers were concerned that some 20 million people, most of whom were poor, elderly, and living in rural parts of the country, were not prepared for the transition. And to make matters worse, the government had also run out of its $40 coupons it was issuing to help defray the cost of the converter boxes necessary to allow older TVs to get digital signals. There had also been reports that many consumers, who had already gotten converter boxes, were not able to connect them properly to their TVs.

Ultimately, Congress voted to delay the deadline for the DTV transition from February 17 to June 12. The delay and the general unreadiness of the public for this transition have resulted in a lot of finger pointing among politicians and public interest groups. And the FCC has been sharply criticized for dropping the ball in terms of educating the public about the transition. The new Web site is an attempt to help provide more user-friendly information.

Hopefully, this latest effort will help get consumers ready for the transition. But recent reports suggest there are still many people not ready for the transition and time is running out. According to Nielsen, as of April 12, 3.6 million TV households are "completely unready" for the DTV transition on June 12. This is an improvement of 200,000 households over the past two weeks, when Nielsen reported that 3.8 million American households were unready. But as the deadline gets closer, time is running out and there are still millions of consumers unready.

But the NAB says that Nielsen's numbers are greatly exaggerated. And the association believes that the actual number of those not ready is much lower.

The Federal Communications Commission is set to start holding hearings on how to spend taxpayer money on building and upgrading broadband access in the U.S.

The $787 billion stimulus package passed by Congress earlier this year calls on the FCC to come up with a road map for how billions of dollars in government money should be spent to improve broadband in the U.S. The FCC has until next February to come up with a plan, and it's starting to hold hearings on Wednesday to discuss what will hopefully become a national broadband strategy.

As part of the process, the agency will look at ways to improve broadband coverage so that people living in rural areas have access to high speed Internet. And it will also be looking at ways to improve the speeds of existing broadband infrastructure. The FCC will also consider updating outdated communications policies to make them more relevant as more Americans get communications and TV service from non-traditional companies.

Many telecommunications experts say the new broadband framework being laid out will be the biggest task the FCC has handled since implementing the Telecom Act of 1996.

But getting the road map in place will likely spur heated debate among consumer groups and cable and phone companies, especially when it comes to controversial issues such as Net neutrality. Several consumer groups have already suggested that the government impose requirements on any money given as part of the stimulus package to ensure that Internet service providers keep their networks open. These groups don't want cable or phone companies blocking new services offered by competitors.

Phone and cable companies argue that imposing new regulation or laws could preclude them from managing their networks and therefore would stifle investment in this area. They are lobbying Congress and the FCC to ensure that stricter rules are not put in place.

Congress has allocated $7.2 billion for broadband as part of the overall stimulus package, but the issues that the FCC is hammering out will likely entail billions more of investment from the government in the future. Most likely, future funding will come from revisions to the Universal Service Fund.

This fund was originally created to help provide telephone access to rural Americans. But now it looks like the fund will be expanded to also provide funds for expanding broadband services. But this, too, is likely to be controversial, as rural phone and wireless companies would likely receive less money from the fund if it was expanded to cover broadband.

Faced with a whopping $1.7 trillion deficit, President Obama is proposing tacking on a spectrum license fee to wireless operators to help generate revenue for the government.

The Obama administration's proposal was loosely outlined in the new budget plan for 2009 and 2010 submitted Thursday. In that plan, the administration proposes adding a new fee to be paid by wireless carriers that license wireless spectrum from the government.

These annual fees would start at $50 million in 2009 and jump to $200 million in 2010, Reuters reported. The fees will gradually increase over the next 10 years to $550 million per user per year, generating an estimated total of $4.8 billion over the next decade.

The proposed fees are in addition to license fees that operators have already paid the federal government as part of its wireless auctions. The Federal Communications Commission has been auctioning off wireless spectrum to phone companies and other entities since the 1990s. These auctions grant license holders exclusive rights to the spectrum in exchange for cash.

Over the years, these auctions have generated billions of dollars for the federal government. The most recent auction, which ended in March 2008, was for the 700 MHz block of spectrum that is being vacated by television broadcasters after the mandated digital TV transition. This valuable spectrum generated a record $19.6 billion.

But wireless spectrum is a limited resource. And the government is running out of airwaves to auction. In fact, the Obama administration predicts that it will only be able to generate about $4.8 billion in revenue from wireless auctions over the next 10 years.

Even though the additional fees could help the government halve the deficit by 2013 as well as help it fund several new spending initiatives, it's likely to be met with a great deal of resistance from mobile operators.

So far, none of the big four wireless carriers in the U.S.--AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless--has been willing to comment on the proposal. And the CTIA wireless-industry association said it's still looking into the matter.

"We are currently reviewing the details of the proposal and look forward to participating in the next stages of this issue," CTIA said in a statement.

Previous spectrum fee proposals have been strongly opposed by the wireless industry, and there's little reason to suggest that the industry would support them now. The big difference this time around is that a Democrat-controlled Congress could be more willing to support President Obama's plans.

More details about the proposal are expected later this spring when the administration releases a more detailed budget package. But any changes to the fee structure would require legislation. And my guess is that the wireless industry would fight hard against it.

Google is teaming up with other technology companies to develop specifications that the Federal Communications Commission can use in developing its "white space" database.

Google said earlier this week that it is joining several technology companies, including Comsearch, Dell, HP, Microsoft, Motorola and Neustar, to form a new coalition called the White Spaces Database Group, which will provide and compile into a database technical specifications for devices that will use white space spectrum.

White spaces are unused slivers of spectrum in the 700 MHz band that sit between broadcast TV channels. Google and others successfully lobbied the FCC last year to open up that spectrum for unlicensed use so that new wireless devices could access that spectrum.

In its ruling in November, the FCC set rules stating that devices using a combination of geolocation technology and spectrum-sensing technology could be approved for unlicensed white space use. Before sending or receiving data, devices will be required to access this database to determine available channels. And the device will not transmit in channels that are already known to be in use.

Technology companies such as Google, Motorola, Microsoft, and Dell had been lobbying the FCC for years to open this spectrum for unlicensed use. The hope is that the spectrum could be used to augment existing wireless services or eventually be used to create new wireless broadband services.

But TV broadcasters and wireless microphone companies have long opposed the use of this spectrum, saying it will interfere with their services. Google believes that using geolocation technology used along with spectrum sensing technologies will offer complete protection to licensed signals from harmful interference.

"We don't plan to become a database administrator ourselves, but do want to work with the FCC to make sure that a white spaces database gets up and running," Richard Whitt, Google's Washington Telecom and Media Counsel, said in a blog post earlier this week. "We hope that this will unfold in a matter of months, not years."

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has backed off his plan that would require free wireless broadband license holders to filter for smut.

On Monday, the chairman told the blog Ars Technica that he has revised his proposal for free wireless broadband so that it doesn't require license holders to filter for porn. Martin said in an interview with the Web site that he has already started circulating the new version of the plan.

The FCC has been considering auctioning off 25 megahertz of wireless spectrum in the 2155MHz to 2180MHz band for several months. As part of the auction, Martin proposed requiring license holders to offer a portion of their service for free. Also, the free service would be required to filter for pornography and material deemed unsuitable for children.

The idea behind the proposal was to provide wireless broadband Internet access to millions of Americans who may not have been able to afford it.

But several consumer and civil liberty groups opposed the Web filtering requirement, believing that the filter could potentially allow the government to block any content it finds objectionable.

Martin told Ars Technica that he didn't want the Web filtering provision to kill the whole proposal. So he took it out.

"I'm saying if this is a problem for people, let's take it away," Martin told Ars Technica. "A lot of public interest advocates have said they would support this, but we're concerned about the filter. Well, now there's an item in front of the Commissioners and it no longer has the filter. And I've already voted for it without the filter now. So it's already got one vote."

Several consumer groups including, Public Knowledge, Consumers Union, and the Media Access Project, have said they support the idea of offering free wireless access without Web filtering in an effort to provide more broadband options for consumers. They also like the open-access provisions of the proposal, which would require license holders to allow any device to connect to the network.

But others, including the wireless industry, oppose the idea of opening up this spectrum. T-Mobile USA, which spent $4.2 billion in 2006 to acquire spectrum in an adjacent band, has complained that using this spectrum would cause interference with its newly acquired spectrum. The FCC says it has disproved these claims. But it's very clear that T-Mobile, which just started offering 3G wireless service using its new spectrum, also doesn't want to compete with a service that is free.

Martin wanted the FCC to vote on the free wireless proposal on December 18. But the meeting was canceled after several objections over the vote from Congress. The Commission met for an open meeting via teleconference on Tuesday, where it bid farewell to Republican Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate. But no items were voted on.

The revised free wireless broadband proposal could be voted on during the Commission's open meeting on January 15, but there's been no word yet on specific agenda items. Needless to say, with the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20, the next FCC open meeting will likely be Martin's last to opportunity to push through any items, such as the new proposal.