Brown includes spectrum in £36bn windfall

[BGonaSTICK]

Chancellor Gordon Brown has included the auction of spectrum liberated from digital switchover among asset sales that are set to raise £36bn for the Treasury between now and 2011. The amount is twice the forecast made in December.

The Treasury has not set a target for the auction. But Brown's inclusion of the spectrum among other asset sales just a day after Ofcom's consultation on its Digital Dividend Review - which recommends all the liberated spectrum be sold - has unsettled public service broadcasters hoping that some spectrum be set aside for high-definition channels on Freeview.

"We are extremely disappointed that the ink is barely dry on the consultation responses sent to Ofcom and meanwhile the Treasury is factoring in significant revenues from these auctions," Richard Lindsay-Davies, director general of the Digital TV Group, told The Guardian.

An Ofcom spokesman was quoted by The Guardian as saying: "Our priority is to increase the supply of spectrum, reducing scarcity, and so creating more opportunities for innovation and competition. It is not Ofcom's objective to raise revenue for the Government."

Earlier this month Trade and Industry minister Margaret Hodge sought to dispel industry speculation that the Treasury is seeking to maximise revenues from a spectrum auction by not setting aside capacity for HD on Freeview.

Addressing the Digital TV Group's annual summit - which was dominated by the spectrum issue - Hodge echoed Ofcom's statement in December that it did not believe it was best-placed to decide which services should get access to spectrum, and insisted: "This spectrum [auction] is not about maximising money for the Treasury."

Last week broadcasting minister Shaun Woodward said ministers were keeping an "open mind" on calls for spectrum use after digital switchover.

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Yeah, like ****

[cactusman]

Government had £23 Billion from the telecoms sector when they auctioned off for the the third generation mobile airwaves which took place back in 1997, well...,where has that lot gone then???.....the same place that this will I have no doubt....Have you got freeview yet little old lady,well to bad..

[Jimdefruit]

Load of thieving barstewards. All we will end up with is a lot of recycled cr@p and charged the earth for the priveledge of receiving it. The national free channel providers should be given the opportunity to transmit some high quality, high definition programmes.

[BGonaSTICK]

I think the whole thing is a joke. Our 'terrestrial airwaves' could end up being owned by foreign commercial interests until 2011, and that doesn't seem right.

As far as I'm concerned, the people own 'the spectrum' as it's come to be known as by ****hole politicians who don't even understand what it is, and don't care as long as it appears in the correct column on the balance sheet.

We pay the licence fees, and it's not right that when technology moves on, that we don't see the benefits.

It's technological depreciation. The worth of any given technology depreciates with age, like a car. You have to replace it every few years just to stand still. At this rate, our terrestrial TV service will become the Citroen 2CV of the terrestrial marketplace and we'll still be having to find the monthly repayments on the latest showroom model.

[Gav]

I still don't get how the spectrum can be governed. Its something that you can't really control, everything electrical gives off small amounts of radio transmission. If everyone in the country decided to broadcast on UHF, how the hell would you stop them? The spectrum is like a natural resource, if you own property you should control the things that are transmitted over your land.


Or am I just rambling?

I think ThePirateBay should stop trying to buy an island and buy a huge chunk of the spectrum and broadcast illegal stuff on there - free movies for all xD

[BGonaSTICK]

LOL, sounds good.

You certainly don't have any rights over what is transmitted into your back garden. Try getting caught illegally decrypting pay-TV and read the charge sheet. 'Illegally de-energising satellite transmission hardware' or some such guff.

I'd like to charge Sky for the damage caused by the increased radiation levels on my lawn if I thought I could get away with it.