Comcast's bid for Sky likely won't raise the same types and levels of regulatory concern that initially met Fox's bid for Sky, experts told us. Unclear is whether the Fox bid -- now that it has pledged a firewall to protect Sky News operations (see 1802120031) -- still carries those regulatory concerns. Comcast announced the $31 billion proposal Tuesday. Fox said it "remains committed" to the cash offer it made in 2016, saying "no firm offer has been made" by Comcast.
With the FCC order set to take effect March 5 authorizing voluntary deployment of ATSC 3.0 (see 1802010025), MPEG LA is encountering “a great deal of enthusiasm for an ATSC 3.0 pool license,” said spokesman Tom O’Reilly. Having announced in August a call for patents essential to the 3.0 suite of standards (see 1711010054), “to facilitate creation of a joint license for ATSC 3.0,” MPEG LA held two meetings on forming a patent pool “and will hold our third meeting next month,” said O’Reilly. “Fifteen companies are participating so far.” He gave no timeline for when a 3.0 patent pool might be operational. MPEG LA runs 15 patent pool programs, including one for nine licensors for some essential patents embedded in ATSC 1.0. The two largest joint-license programs MPEG LA administers in terms of the number of participating licensors are those it runs on behalf of 38 companies in the AVC/H.264 pool and 36 companies in the HEVC/H.265 pool. The FCC 3.0 order released Nov. 21 said the commission will use the first five years of 3.0 deployment to "monitor" how the marketplace handles royalties for essential patents, electing for now not to impose licensing rules on 3.0's rollout (see 1711210004).
U.S.-based web application attacks increased 31 percent in Q4 from the year-ago quarter, and perpetrators continue to focus on industries with high-value data, Akamai reported Tuesday. The report showed the retail industry was the hardest hit from web application threats, with 38 percent of attacks. Media and entertainment had 18 percent, technology 11, the public sector had 4.4 percent. Senior Editor Martin McKeay said attackers increasingly seek more direct ways for financial gain, such as ransomware. Worldwide web application attacks increased 10 percent, with a 10 percent increase in SQLi attacks globally. “Of the 17 billion login requests tracked through the Akamai platform in November and December, almost half (43 percent) were used for credential abuse,” the report said.
Millions of smart TVs can be controlled by hackers exploiting easy-to-find security flaws, said Consumer Reports. Also finding privacy issues with smart TVs’ “substantial data collection,” Wednesday's report was the first test from its Digital Standard. It was developed with cybersecurity and privacy organizations Disconnect, Ranking Digital Rights, The Cyber Independent Testing Lab and nonprofit tech organization Aspiration to help set expectations for how connected product manufacturers should handle privacy and security.
A Tuesday House Homeland Security Communications Subcommittee hearing is likely to mirror a recent Senate Commerce Committee one in focus on the Jan. 13 false missile alert in Hawaii, but some witnesses are likely to contrast that incident with industry and other states’ best practices, communications sector officials and lobbyists said in interviews. The false warning already drew congressional scrutiny, particularly from Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and other members of the state’s delegation (see 1801160054, 1801170050, 1801240046 and 1801250061). A planned Feb. 16 House Communications Subcommittee hearing on the FCC budget is expected to partially focus on the Hawaii incident and other public safety communications issues (see 1802050025).
Amazon customers bought “tens of millions” Fire TV Sticks and Echo Dots, said Thursday's Q4 earnings release. Sales jumped 38 percent to $60.5 billion, with net income of $1.9 billion vs. $749 million. The company exceeded “very optimistic” projections and “expect us to double down,” said CEO Jeff Bezos. He said it's “an important point” that other companies and developers are “accelerating adoption of Alexa.” The company is seeing strong response to its new far-field voice kit for manufacturers, he said. Shares Friday closed up 3 percent to $1,429.95.
The FCC should react to the recent false missile alert in Hawaii by developing best practices for the emergency alert system, studying improvements to the system and committing “right now” to having changes in place before summer, said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday at an NAB event on how broadcasters can prepare for emergencies (see 1801160054). “We need to look at everything from state training and practices to improved user interfaces for public safety that can reduce the likelihood of error.” Broadcasters told us preparation and funds are important to staying on-air (see 1712220028).
The Trump administration was at CES and administration officials indicated policy formation was rolling forward in such areas as drones and autonomous vehicles (see 1801110009) and spectrum (see 1801100015). But industry observers disagree whether the administration is making progress. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) issued a report Thursday slamming the administration’s record on science. Among CES speakers were Michael Kratsios, deputy chief technology officer, and Ethan Klein, policy adviser, both from the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The FCC is investigating a false alarm warning about a possible ballistic missile headed for Hawaii that caused panic there Saturday. The warning was sent as a wireless alert to cellphones in the state as well as by broadcasters and wasn’t retracted for 38 minutes. Chairman Ajit Pai said Sunday the FCC is investigating and called the false alarm “unacceptable.” Public safety officials told us Tuesday other that states are likely to look at their alerting protocols. Wireless customers got the following warning at just before 8:10 a.m. Hawaii time: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” The House Communications Subcommittee said Tuesday it plans a hearing.
ViaSat wants more time to complete its network of gateway earth stations that will tie into its ViaSat-2 broadband satellite. In a series of FCC International Bureau filings Thursday (for example, see here), the company said 21 of the 38 earth stations authorized early this year will be ready to begin operation within a month, but 17 require a one-year extension of their deadline, to Jan. 18, 2019. It said the delay was beyond ViaSat's control, stemming from delays in ViaSat-2's launch that in turn were due to delays with the satellite manufacturer, with third-party launches on the launch provider's manifest and "civil unrest at the launch site" in March. It said the ITU decided ViaSat-2 launch delays were due to unforeseeable conditions that resulted in an extension of when the satellite network needed to be brought into use. The company said some of the 17 gateways should be brought into service by mid-2018, but others likely will require up to a year.