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Well, the rules at the FCC are set. Harold Feld live-blogged the FCC hearing, and there's good analysis by Gigi Sohn at Public Knowledge, Rick Whitt at Google, Tim Karr at Free Press, and Arts Technica.
The short story is that we got some of what we wanted, but not enough. While there are some open access requirements on a piece of the spectrum, the rules aren't strong enough and there's a lot of room for cheating. Google might still bid, of course, though that's somewhat unlikely.
There will not be a wireless third pipe through this spectrum, but key concepts have been advanced and conceded in public discourse, like open access. There was a potential 3-2 majority for what we wanted, but the strong pressure from Congressional Republicans and relative silence from Congressional Democrats meant we just weren't able to get there. Significant exceptions were Byron Dorgan, Chip Pickering, Ed Markey, and John Dingell. Both the Clinton and Obama campaigns were silent, while Edwards was great.
The telecom and cable companies have longterm relationships with lots of members, and they own the Republican Party. The free media movement is getting there, but it takes time to build a network of staffers, members, and regulatory allies. The other side had eighty years, but the logic and coalition for this kind of eventual policy change is too strong, and the business case for openness is clear.
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