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TECHNOLOGY Wednesday 12 July 2017

Microsoft eyes buffer zone in TV airwaves for rural internet

By MATT O’BRIEN , AP Tech- effort,” he said. “It’s not
nology Writer something where you can
Microsoft wants to extend show profit in a quarter.
broadband services to ru- They have to have longer-
ral America by turning to term vision.”
a wireless technology that The initiative also faces ob-
uses the buffer zones sepa- jections from the National
rating individual television Association of Broadcast-
channels in the airwaves. ers, which said it was the
Microsoft plans to partner “height of arrogance”
with rural telecommunica- for Microsoft to “demand
tions providers in 12 states free, unlicensed spectrum
stretching from Washing- after refusing to bid on TV
ton to Maine to get about airwaves” in a recent FCC
2 million rural Americans auction. The group said
connected to high-speed the buffer zones, though
internet over the next five currently unused, are im-
years. It’s also calling for portant for preventing ad-
regulatory cooperation jacent channels from inter-
from the Federal Commu- fering with each other.
nications Commission and That’s less of a problem in
broader support from the most rural areas, said Doug
public sector to expand ru- Brake, a telecommunica-
ral broadband to the more Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith holds up an ACRS2 device by ADAPTRUM tions policy analyst with
than 20 million people who used in TV White Space communications as he speaks in Washington, Tuesday, July 11, 2017, the Information Technol-
don’t have it. about Microsoft’s project to bring broadband internet access to rural parts of the U.S. ogy and Innovation Foun-
Associated Press
Microsoft’s initiative, un- dation, a think tank that
veiled Tuesday , comes as Brad Smith, Microsoft’s tennas and service base Parmesh Ramanathan, an includes Microsoft among
policy makers struggle to president and chief legal stations, as well as the engineering professor at its donors.
extend high-speed inter- officer, said the company devices individual homes the University of Wisconsin. “In rural areas, there aren’t
net services to rural areas, won’t make money on the will need. Those costs are Ramanathan said this tech- that many television broad-
which cable and phone operations, but could ben- expected to decline over nology could prove cheap- casters so there’s a lot of
companies have often efit from serving rural users time, though. er than existing methods, unused spectrum,” Brake
shunned as cost prohibi- with its services, many of Microsoft has tried us- such as laying down fiber- said. “The real challenge
tive. Getting more people which run ads or require ing the TV buffer zones, or optic cables, but telecom is getting the number of
connected in rural areas paid subscriptions. white space, to provide companies will still need users, the scale. Is there
has been a priority of Presi- The project still faces sev- broadband internet in sev- subsidies to make it eco- enough of a market for the
dent Donald Trump’s ad- eral challenges, including eral countries. But the idea nomical. device manufacturers to
ministration. the costs of setting up an- is “still in its infancy,” said “It requires a sustained build these devices?”
News outlets seek to negotiate said the FCC will have to
To make it work, Microsoft
guarantee that these buf-
with Google, Facebook on ads fer zones remain available
nationwide — and make
even more such zones
available in rural areas.
By BARBARA ORTUTAY news organizations to group. bigger share of the online Other companies, includ-
AP Technology Writer “play by their rules on how But the alliance’s chief ex- advertising market. Google ing Google, have made
NEW YORK (AP) — News news and information is ecutive, David Chavern, and Facebook combined similar requests.
outlets are seeking permis- displayed, prioritized and said in an interview that will account for 60 percent Of the three TV channels
sion from Congress for the monetized.” trying is better than doing of the U.S. digital advertis- that Microsoft wants the
right to negotiate jointly “These rules have com- nothing. ing market this year, ac- FCC to free up around
with Google and Face- moditized the news and The news industry has been cording to the research the country for what it de-
book, two companies that given rise to fake news, hit with declining print firm eMarketer. scribes as “public” use,
dominate online advertis- which often cannot be readership and a loss of Campbell Brown, head of the biggest controversy
ing and online news traffic. differentiated from real advertising revenue as it news partnerships at Face- has centered around
The News Media Alliance, news,” the alliance said in has moved online. book, said in a statement one used by low-power
which represents nearly a press release on Monday. The outlets want stronger that the company is “com- television broadcasters
2,000 news organizations, It won’t be easy getting a protections for intellec- mitted to helping quality that often provide niche
said the two companies’ congressional antitrust ex- tual property, support for journalism thrive on Face- programming to small
dominance have forced emption to negotiate as a subscription models and a book. q communities.q