In Michigan the Secretary of State is the equivelent of the DMV in other states. It is where you get Driver Licenses, Car titles, registrations, etc.

What am I missing here?

You are missing the money. Because of the changes to the broadcast spectrum by changing all broadcasts over to digital, they reclaim large portions of the UHF band to sell to public safety and wireless services companies. This has nothing really to do with HDTV, it is more with the more effective broadcast medium being digital rather than analog.