What HDTV has to do with emergency communication

One of my favorite blogs, BoingBoing, previews an article from the National Journal on the broadcast spectrum in the U.S., the fight in government over HDTV regulations and the effect both have had on the ability of emergency personnel to communicate in disaster situations:

This long, excellent article on the history of broadcast spectrum allocation in America is the single best explanation of the mess that we're in today. In short: greedy broadcasters tricked Congress into giving them free spectrum for a second set of digital channels, so that Americans who bought digital TVs would have something to watch. Then they did nothing with them. Meantime, cops and firefighters and EMTs are (literally) dying for some of that squat-upon spectrum so that they can coordinate their rescue efforts.

link to BoingBoing post