Dolly's a heavyweight in the entertainment biz, but is she a big enough heavyweight to take on the FCC, Bill Gates, and Google? We're about to find out next week.
So exactly what are they fighting for? Pretty much it's nothing, well nothing that you can see really. More specifically they're fighting for air space or white space as they're calling it. It all stems from the airwaves that are going to be opened up and unused once TV broadcasters are forced to go digital in February of 2009. The airwaves that are currently being used for our TV enjoyment are suddenly going to be freed up and will become white space or unused, unlicensed airwaves. It's all sort of confusing and so I've included the video that's posted on Free The Airwaves.com.
So where do Dolly, Google and Bill Gates come in? The FCC is going to be voting on November 4 on whether to keep it free for anyone to use. Google and Bill Gates (Microsoft) believes the white space should be used to expand wireless Internet so that it's available to everyone. The problem is that the white space is what performers use - or at least from what I can gather - for their music equipment. The wireless microphones that have revolutionized the way performers are able to perform on stage use the unused white space. So what Dolly and other performers are afraid of is with all the WiFi going on it's going to interfere with their microphones and equipment and ultimately mess with their livelihood. The FCC has performed interference tests and believe that everything can use the airwaves simultaneously without a problem, but not everyone is convinced that they've done enough testing.
Dolly along with other singers who have joined in including Neil Diamond, the Dixie Chicks, Clay Aiken, and Guns N' Roses are asking for more time so that more interference testing can be performed. Dolly even sent a letter to the FCC to state her case.
"As someone who uses the white spaces and knows the value of them for the work that I and many of my friends do around the country, I ask the FCC to recognize the entertainment industry's valuable contribution to the cultural life," Parton wrote. "I can unequivocally confirm that the importance of clear, consistent wireless microphone broadcasts simply cannot be overstated. This industry relies on wireless technology and is in jeopardy of being irreversibly devastated by the commission's pending decision."
I have a feeling that next week white space will probably become more of a household word. The question now is who is the bigger influence, computer giants Google and Bill Gates or music giants such as Dolly Parton? Which will the FCC side with? Stay tuned.
I'm so not a technical person, so you can read more here, here, and here.
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