Eroding the assets of citizenship? From broadcast to broadband

The promise of convergence and the maturing internet appear to create arenas of communicative plenty but, instead of the end of spectrum scarcity, we are witnessing a new challenge of ‘coexistence’ and fierce competition over spectrum between the broadcasters and mobile telecom providers. Some European countries have already decided on further reductions in the broadcast spectrum, though the vast majority disagreed with the mobile industries’ proposal at the World Radiocommunication Conference in November 2015 that the entire ultra high frequency band should in future be shared by mobile broadband and broadcasting. This article explores the proposition that broadcasting requires adequate spectrum in order to deliver the information and cultural assets that are vital for citizenship, at a cost likely to remain significantly lower than comparable service delivered via subscription or broadband providers.