To lure broadcast TV stations into giving up spectrum so it can be made available for wireless devices, the FCC's chairman wants to pay them.
The Obama Administration has pledged to double the amount of airwaves available for data-hungry devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. The squeeze could come soon. Wireless data flows may increase 35-fold over the next five years.
One place to look for spectrum, he says: the airwaves controlled by broadcast TV stations, whose owners include CBS (CBS), News Corp. (NWSA), and Walt Disney's (DIS) ABC. TV stations switched from inefficient analog broadcasting to efficient digital signals two years ago, freeing up a portion of their allocated airwaves. Money would come from auctioning excess airwaves to mobile carriers such as AT&T (T), Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, and Sprint Nextel (S). The airwaves could fetch $48 billion.
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