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In the late 1980s and 1990s, the advanced industrial countries considered replacing the existing analogue television infrastructure with a new digital one. A key common feature to the debates over digital TV (DTV) in the United States, Western Europe and Japan was the eventual victory of the ideas of digitalism (the superiority of everything digital over everything analogue) and of digital convergence (the merging of computing, telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructures made possible by digitalization) in public debates over standards. Jeffrey Hart's book shows how nationalism and regionalism combined with digitalism to produce three different and incompatible DTV standards in the three regions, an outcome which has led to missed opportunities in developing the new technologies. Hart's book contributes to our understanding of relations between business and government, and of competition between the world's great economic powers.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, the advanced industrial countries considered replacing the existing analogue television infrastructure with a new digital one. A key common feature to the debates over digital TV (DTV) in the United States, Western Europe and Japan was the eventual victory of the ideas of digitalism (the superiority of everything digital over everything analogue) and of digital convergence (the merging of computing, telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructures made possible by digitalization) in public debates over standards. Jeffrey Hart's book shows how nationalism and regionalism combined with digitalism to produce three different and incompatible DTV standards in the three regions, an outcome which has led to missed opportunities in developing the new technologies. Hart's book contributes to our understanding of relations between business and government, and of competition between the world's great economic powers.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, the advanced industrial countries considered replacing the existing analog television infrastructure with a new digital one. Hart's book shows how nationalism and regionalism produced incompatible standards in the US, Japan and Europe, and led to missed opportunities in developing new technologies

Policies adopted by the United States government between 1987 and 1993 regarding high definition television (HDTV) were made primarily by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). A brief effort by members of Congress and their bureaucratic and industrial allies to link HDTV to broader industrial policies was thwarted by the George Bush Administration between 1988 and 1990. The FCC's policies with respect to simulcasting and digital signals reflected the concern of that agency to protect the interests of consumers, broadcasters, and electronics manufacturers. The first two interests traditionally were protected by the FCC, whereas the protection of electronics was somewhat unusual and was influenced by perceptions of declining United States competitiveness. In addition, United States policymaking in this area depended strongly on the framing effect of policies adopted in Japan and Western Europe.

THE STAKES IN THE COMPETITION TO DEVELOP HIGH Definition Television (HDTV) are high. In the face of intense competition from Japan, the European effort has had the earmarks of a mission-oriented, Japanese-style industrial policy. But political support for a politically-derived European HDTV standard is matched by market demand. This case study reveals that the nature of government-industry relations in the EC has changed very little when large, politically powerful firms are involved, despite the increasingly prominent policy role of the European Community and the creation of the internal market.

In an interview, Gilles Bregant, CEO of ANFR (Agence nationale des Frequences), talked about the agency. Bregant said ANFR is the French public Agency in charge of radio spectrum management. It is placed under the jurisdiction of the Minister responsible for Electronic Communications but all the Ministries using spectrum are represented at ANFR's board. First, it is important to recall that spectrum sharing is already a reality with short range devices operating under a general authorization on a non interference and non protection basis. This is the case for Wifi in the 2.45 GHz and 5 GHz bands. This is also the case of all applications using ultra wide band devices which are sharing spectrum thanks to a very low power density. The Agency has no sanitary or health prerogatives, its expertise and missions only rely on technical matters. The Agency monitors the respect by radio communication network operators of the public exposure to electromagnetic fields limits.