On Monday Google launched a new advocacy campaign, Free The Airwaves, an effort by the company to get some traction around white spaces, the tiny slivers of spectrum that reside in the 700 MHz band spectrum vacated by analog television’s switch to digital transmissions. Google has been lobbying hard to get this spectrum unlicensed and make it open to all unlicensed devices. While I am all for more and easier broadband for the masses, I cannot miss the irony that a search monopoly that is printing money wants access to more free spectrum so it can eventually start printing more money by getting more search traffic.

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Next February, somewhere in America, someone out there is going to flip on his tube for some “Law & Order: SVU” and see nothing but fuzz. He’ll probably grapple with his rabbit ears and pound the side of his aging CRT, but no amount of cajoling will bring back Ice-T’s interrogation room or Richard Belzer’s last unfunny stand. That’s because on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, the FCC will repossess the analog spectrum from the major television broadcasters and the networks will go all-digital.

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When last we looked after the big 700 MHz spectrum auction wrapped up in March, Team Google was congratulating itself for successfully winning open-access requirements for the desirable “C Block” without actually having to spend billions of dollars, clearing a path for devices powered by its open Android platform even though Verizon Wireless won those airwaves. The search sovereign should have known it wasn’t going to be that easy.

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Here’s the telecom geek quiz of the day: What’s a megahertz pop?

A) What a Federal Communications Commission lawyer eats to cool off on a hot day
B) An ultrasonic explosive device used for pranks at MIT
C) A shiny prize horded by large phone companies

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When analog television broadcasting goes dark in the United States on Feb. 17, 2009, and the huge analog transmitters of more than 1,600 broadcast stations are turned off, what will happen to those radio frequencies formerly used for analog TV? Well, for UHF channels 60 to 69, the future will be decided starting this week, as the Federal Communications Commission begins to auction that reclaimed bandwidth, bringing at least $10 billion into the treasury from auction winners and possibly allowing a dramatic expansion of wireless spectrum for cellular voice and data communication. Or maybe not, since it is just as likely these frequencies will be bought by incumbent wireless providers who may choose to simply let the channels go unused so as not to threaten their existing businesses.

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