Broadband Bureaucrats Gone Wild

Last week Maurice “Moss” Bresnahan stepped down as head of ETV, South Carolina’s public television and radio network. Lost in the under-researched MSM spin surrounding Bresnahan’s departure was the messy back story of his failed attempt to turn ETV into a state-owned telecom, and a nasty turf war with the state’s Chief Information Officer (and the legislature) that is still evolving. As part of ETV’s K-12 educational mandate, it owns broadcast licenses to deliver instructional television shows to our state’s failing public schools. When TV stations across the US make the transition to digital broadcasting in February of 2009, the ETV educational licenses will also need to switch from analog to digital. Several years ago - excited about a new untapped source of funding - Bresnahan approached Clearwire, a controversial internet... [read full story]