It's nearly an article of faith that broadband or high-speed Internet connections are essential both for the nation's economic growth in the 21st Century and the individual American's pursuit of happiness.

An almost equally held view is that those without high speed lines it will be at a disadvantage like their predecessors before them who lacked phones.

That's why it's worth paying attention to the the Federal Communications Commissions' official unveiling Tuesday of its National Broadband Plan. It formally sent the plan to Congress.

The 376-page plan is really a starting point for a great national debate that will likely be dominated by the phone, wireless, cable and broadcast lobbyists as they jockey to give their industries an advantage or, particularly in the case of the broadcasters, hold on to what they currently have.

For instance, one part of the FCC plan calls for allocating the invisible and exceedingly valuable real estate known as the radio or broadcast spectrum to wireless broadband providers. There's widespread agreement that wireless technology will play a major role in the future of high-speed Internet.

The plan says a goal should be to:

Make 500 megahertz of spectrum newly available for broadband within 10 years, of which 300 megahertz should be made available for mobile use within five years.

TV Broadcasters are sitting on a lot of that valuable spectrum, even after they gave up 108 mhz of spectrum when they transitioned last year to digital from analog broadcasting.

 

Broadcasters aren't inclined to give up the remaining spectrum they're not using in part because some technology could come along in the future that would allow them to make a ton of money from it.

So as part of its plan, the FCC is proposing what it calls "incentives" and others call bribes tos to broadcasters to release their death grip on some of that spectrum.

Another excerpt from the plan:

Enable incentives and mechanisms to repurpose
spectrum to more flexible uses. Mechanisms include
incentive auctions, which allow auction proceeds to be
shared in an equitable manner with current licensees
as market demands change. These would benefit both
spectrum holders and the American public. The public
could benefit from additional spectrum for high-demand
uses and from new auction revenues. Incumbents,
meanwhile, could recognize a portion of the value of enabling
new uses of spectrum. For example, this would allow
the FCC to share auction proceeds with broadcasters
who voluntarily agree to use technology to continue
traditional broadcast services with less spectrum.

NPR's All Things Considered on Monday had a good overview on the high stakes tug-of-war between the TV broadcasters, FCC and wireless providers. The bottom line: this is a battle that has gone for years and will likely continue for many more years.