This map shows the spread of FLO TV. The red points are where the analog TV networks will cease broadcasting on channel 55 this week, allowing Qualcomm to begin the FLO TV broadcasts in these areas without causing interference. The FLO TV equipment is in place and the satellite receivers, UHF transmitters, and test equipment are already installed on sites in Miami, San Francisco, Boston, and other cities. Broadcasting is ready to begin as soon as the digital switchover finally takes place.

This is what’s often called the digital dividend: the combination of more revenue for the government by auctioning off smaller pieces of the spectrum used for analog TV and radio broadcasting to multiple broadcasters, with new services that put more digital content in the spectrum that used to support only one analog channel. There have been repeated delays to the switchover, for both technical and political reasons, and that has held up MediaFLO. The first devices were launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2006, while Verizon launched its VCAST service in March 2007 and AT&T followed in May 2008 with its offering. As the last analog channels switch off, the first of the digital dividend services goes nationwide at last.