If the FCC Media Bureau doesn’t grant Samsung...
If the FCC Media Bureau doesn’t grant Samsung an analog tuner waiver (CD June 24 p17) for its new Internet-enabled retail set-top box by Sept. 15, the company won’t be able to offer the device for sale in 2013, Samsung…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
said in an ex parte filing Friday (http://bit.ly/136cPgL). If the waiver is granted in time, a “major retailer” has agreed to offer the Smart Media Player (SMP) on its shelves in time for the 2013 holiday season, Samsung said. The SMP allows users to access digital cable content and over-the-top Internet content through a programming guide without charging a monthly guide fee. “By eliminating both the equipment rental fee and a monthly guide charge, Samsung expects that the SMP will pay for itself from the consumer’s perspective well within the product’s expected life cycle,” Samsung said. Since the SMP is intended to be used with digital cable, it doesn’t need the analog tuner required by the FCC, Samsung said. “Mandating inclusion of a tuner not only would fail to benefit consumers ... but actually would harm consumers by raising the cost of production.” Since the bureau didn’t receive any objections during the comment cycle -- which closed two weeks ago -- the commission should grant the waiver in time to make the retailer’s deadline, Samsung said.