SPECTRUM AUCTIONS WOULD FUND MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR DIGITAL FUND
Creation of “a multibillion-dollar” Digital Opportunity Investment Trust -- with much of proceeds earmarked for public broadcasting -- is recommended in 2-year study to be released today (Thurs.). Fund would be financed by proceeds from future spectrum auctions, which Congressional Budget Office estimated would produce $18 billion over next several years. Authors of report are Newton Minow, FCC chmn. in Kennedy Administration, and Lawrence Grossman, former pres. of PBS and NBC News. Recommendations in report would require approval by Congress for use of federal money before fund could be established.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
“Bold” public initiatives such as Northwest Ordinance of 1787 (which set aside public lands for schools), Morrill Act of 1862 (which led to establishment of 105 land-grant colleges) and GI Bill of World War II were cited as justification for using federal funds in digital effort. Trust would act as venture capital fund for nonprofit educational and public service groups and would invest “in new and promising ideas and prototypes that use advanced telecommunications technologies,” report said. Recommendations have evolved from “extensive discussions with hundreds” of executives in all walks of life, Minow and Grossman said.
Trust would be charged “to take full advantage of public broadcasting’s” digital transmission system “in carrying out its educational and informational mission” and “to take risks and be bold.” As example of breakthrough, report cites explosion of Internet users. To properly use new communications technology, “we do not need costly new institutions or large… bureaucracies,” report said.
Study will be released in Washington at 11 a.m. news conference at National Press Club. It was financed by Carnegie Corp., Open Society Institute, and Knight, MacArthur and Century Foundations. About dozen outside papers on various phases of telecommunications were commissioned in effort that also will be released at news conference.