Many hedge fund and telecom execs have bought up various bands of spectrum in hopes of converting it for wireless networks. The FCC has denied several requests, keeping its strident allotment for airwaves, but the commission recently gave the rare green light to Dish Network.

“Late Tuesday, the FCC unanimously approved [Dish Chairman Charlie] Ergen’s plan,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Under the order, Dish would be required to not use a portion of its spectrum to avoid interference with neighboring airwaves, according to FCC officials. The company would also be required to cover at least 70 percent of the new network in each of its geographic license areas within seven years.”

Ergen started assembling the spectrum five years ago through government auctions and investments in flailing satellite companies, spending roughly $3 billion. “At a stroke, the FCC has now raised its value to as much as $12 billion, according to some analysts’ estimates. Mr. Ergen has to do the hard work of putting that spectrum to use or getting FCC approval to sell it,” the article states.

“Wireless service could give Dish an important new line of business in a mature U.S. pay TV market, where its cable TV rivals are able to sell popular ‘bundles’ of telephone, television, and high-speed Internet service.” Rather than building its own network, Dish could partner with a carrier like Sprint Nextel, or potentially even an outside company like Google, to offer wireless service with the spectrum.

“Consumers, meanwhile, could benefit whatever Dish decides, as the FCC’s decision frees up more bandwidth for data-hungry devices like smartphones and tablets,” explains WSJ. “The drawn-out process of converting that spectrum also highlighted how slowly regulators have moved to put much-needed airwaves to more valuable uses.”

A new spectrum sharing rule proposed by the Federal Communications Commission would be the biggest wireless regulatory change in decades and could prove a pivotal move in addressing ever-increasing data traffic. “Under the proposed rule, wireless carriers, corporate offices, or researchers could reserve pieces of that spectrum in different regions and at different times — a system managed by a central database,” Technology Review explains.

“The approach guarantees that the spectrum will be available and not subject to interference in certain areas by a crush of new users, as might happen if the new chunk of spectrum were made available with no regulation at all.”

The step “is a critical milestone,” says David Tennenhouse, Microsoft’s VP of technology policy. In addition to releasing more spectrum, the rule will enable “dynamic spectrum sharing that is particularly well suited for absorbing growing wireless data traffic,” he says.

“Cisco Systems estimates that mobile data traffic will grow by a factor of 18 by 2016, and Bell Labs predicts it will increase by a factor of 25,” notes the article. “Many more airwaves could eventually be shared with the help of cognitive radios, which sense available frequencies and shift between them.”

The rule applies to spectrum in the 3.550 to 3.650 gigahertz band, which is currently used by radar systems. At first, the “checked-out” spectrum might be free, but a pricing system may eventually be implemented to allow a wireless carrier to pay for priority access in times of extreme high demand.

“Whatever the details, the move spells the beginning of the end of a system in which spectrum is either exclusively owned by a private company, walled off for government and military use, or unlicensed and crowded,” suggests the article.

During the TV of Tomorrow conference in New York, industry executives discussed how tablets, particularly the iPad, could be the future of television. Tablets and iPads have turned into the second screen for television viewing, and served as the focus of many of the talks at the conference. The second screen trend is both promising and troubling for television execs, as it presents new opportunities while also taking eyes away from advertisements.

People spend 22 minutes on second screens during a traditional 30-minute show, and 38 minutes during a 60-minute show, according to TVPlus co-founder Randy Shiozaki.

Dijit CEO Jeremy Toeman points out that second screen viewing works best for reality shows and other light entertainment. The technology does not work as well for more engaging dramas. Some challenges with second screen viewing involve the different technologies on the market, and the assorted apps for the various tablets.

Some executives maintain that while second screen viewing is exciting, television content is still the most important aspect of the television experience. “What’s been left out of the multiscreen conversation is the first screen, and that will come full circle,” said Lawrence Brickman, VP of smart TV app developer Accedo.

“But if Apple can leverage the incredible amount of energy the TV industry has already invested in the iPad, it may not matter if anyone else can do it better — Apple’s platform will hit scale across multiple screens before the industry even knows it’s happening,” suggests The Verge.

In a video interview with Wired, actor Andy Serkis (who plays the computer-generated character of Gollum in the popular “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and the upcoming “The Hobbit”) speaks about his recurring role and about advances in motion-capture technology.

Since the 2001 release of “Lord of the Rings,” motion capture has changed significantly, “bridging some of the ‘disconnect’ [Serkis] felt while filming on separate live-action and motion-capture stages for the original trilogy,” according to Wired.

Serkis recently co-founded a London-based digital-effects house called The Imaginarium, which specializes in motion capture. In the 2-minute interview, he talks about how developments have changed his acting experience and what it was like to return to the role of Gollum.

“It’s still in its infancy in terms of where it’s going to go and the ability that it gives an actor to transform, while retaining a real emotional sort of truth” says Serkis of motion-capture technology. “No matter how big, or wacky, or abstract the design of a character, it still is always rooted in this emotional, truthful actor’s performance.”

Movie theater personnel in the Asia-Pacific region can now quickly report illegal video recording to the Motion Picture Association with a new app available for tablets and smartphones.

“Using the mobile app, called MAD4 — abbreviated from ‘Make A Difference’ — theater managers and their teams will be able to type in information about camcording incidents through an online reporting platform,” explains The Hollywood Reporter. “The data will then be available to MPA officials for follow-up action or investigation.”

The MPA announced the new app this week at the CineAsia trade fair in Hong Kong. Also included in the app are training videos and resources to express the impact of piracy on the film industry and inform employees what to do when they witness illegal recording.

“We have been given to understand that more than 90 percent of newly released movies that appear illegally on the Internet and on the streets around the world originate from illegal copies being made in cinemas,” Ashish Saksena, CEO of Indian exhibitor Big Cinemas. “The MAD4 application is a great new tool ensuring that all staff will know what needs to be done to prevent illegal recordings being made in cinemas.”

General Electric’s Appliance Park, a place where manufacturing jobs once boomed in America in the from the 1950’s to the 70’s, saw most of its business shipped overseas in the 2000’s. It wasn’t just there. Throughout the country, factory jobs were lost seven times faster between 2000 and 2010 than between 1980 and 2000. Continue reading After Years of Offshore Production, U.S. Generates Insourcing Boom