KSCE El Paso filed an FCC carriage complaint against DirecTV, claiming the company is improperly refusing to renew carriage of its signal. Direct TV said KSCE Channel 38 did not provide the 120-day notice required when a station intends to renew its carriage agreement. James Oyster, who represents KSCE, said the four-month requirement is a rule for commercial stations, and KSCE is non-commercial. “There is nothing specific in rules that show what [a] non- commercial station needs to renew,” Oyster said. “The rules are specific for commercial, there is no election for non- commercial.” “We disagree with their interpretation of the rules and are confident that we've complied with all applicable must-carry rules with respect to their carriage,” said Rob Mercer, spokesman for DirecTV.
Sales at Insight in 2008 gained 16 percent from a year earlier to $869.6 million, the company said. It ended the year serving 759,700 customers, 38,000 more than it had at the end of 2007.
HDTV households in Europe will nearly double to 116 million next year, from 59 million today, for 51 percent penetration, Paris-based research firm Euroconsult said. The number will rise to 170 million by 2013, by which time HDTV transmissions will be more broadly available, further rising to 220 million in 2018, the group said. Falling prices and more displays with integrated HD tuners will spark the growth, Euroconsult said. Also abetting the rise in HDTV homes is the number of pay-TV networks in Europe offering HD, which has tripled in the last two years to 130 channels now available. That number is expected to rise to 600 by 2013. Satellite platforms will continue to be the dominant players in HDTV, but cable and IPTV are catching up, and more over- air HD channels will become available as European broadcasters abandon analog TV and clear spectrum for terrestrial HD. “Pay-TV reception will drive growth of HDTV adoption in Europe in the short term, despite the current economic downturn,” said Pacome Revillon, managing director of Euroconsult. “In 2013, more than 38 million households should receive HD pay-TV services, twice the number of households watching HD free-to-air only.”
Of the three companies among Michigan’s 39 video and cable providers drawing the most consumer complaints during 2008, Comcast and Charter stirred the most ire, according to the Public Service Commission. Complaints were among topics in a Friday annual report based of surveys of providers and municipalities. Asked how to improve Michigan’s 2007 video franchise law, four of 38 providers responding suggested clarifying responsibility for public, educational and government interconnection, explicitly barring local entities from objecting to franchise issuances, and repealing the law. In its report, the commission urged the legislature to adopt a franchise complaint resolution process that it proposed in May 2007. The commission also asked to be allowed to assess video providers a fee to defray commission costs. Of 1,030 video/cable complaints logged in 2008, the first full year in which the commission collected complaints under the 2007 law, Comcast drew 52 percent and Charter 42 percent, the report said. AT&T generated 6 percent of 2008 complaints. Wideopenwest of Michigan, Charter and Comcast are Michigan’s top three video providers. The regulator counted only complaints by consumers willing to give their names and contact information, it noted. In descending order, consumers complained most often about billing, charges and credits, PEG channel issues, Charter channels freezing and channel line-ups, the commission said. During 2008, Michigan had 2.32 million video/cable customers, an increase of more than 50,000 over 2007, the report said. Since Michigan enacted its franchise law, providers and municipalities have filed nine formal complaints, including two -- AT&T of Michigan vs. The City of Clawson (Case U-15683) and City of Rogers City vs. Charter Communications (Case U-15527) -- filed during 2008, the commission noted. Five suits have been withdrawn or found not to meet the criteria for court action. The four cases still pending -- City of Detroit vs. Comcast (Case U-15329), City of Adrian vs. Comcast (Case U- 15427), City of Romulus vs. Comcast (Case U-15439) and AT&T of Michigan vs. Clawson -- mainly involve franchise fees and PEG fees, the commission said. An online survey of municipalities found that the franchise law shifted complaints about video service to the state, the report said. Of more than 1,700 municipalities surveyed, 373 responded, with 55 percent indicating that they no longer take video/cable complaints, the report said. “The number of complaints filed (in 2008) with municipalities that do take complaints is a very low number, so it would appear that the Commission is receiving the majority of the complaints,” it said. “However, approval of the dispute resolution process could ensure that the Commission receives all video complaints in the future.” Municipalities most frequently fielded complaints about rates, service or gear problems and outages. Among municipalities responding, 92 percent indicated no disputes with providers. Of those with disputes, 37 percent said they reached out to the commission about them. Disputes mainly involved PEG fees, franchise fees and PEG channel relocation or such channels moving to a digital tier. The regulator also asked that the deadline for the report be moved from Feb. 1 to March 1 to provide more time to collect and analyze material from all parties.
Qualcomm saw a 56 percent year-over-year drop in its Q4 net income as the economic downturn hurt demand and the company took a hit on its investments. Net income was $341 million and revenue rose three percent to $2.52 billion. “The reduced visibility in the marketplace makes forecasting future inventory levels more difficult,” CEO Paul Jacobs said on a conference call late Wednesday. “Accurately predicting when a recovery will begin is extremely challenging,” he said. “The current consensus is that this recession will be deeper and longer than previously anticipated,” he said. On DTV transition, Jacobs said he expects further developments on the DTV delay bill (S-328) and the company continues to request that any legislation retain the February 17 date for nine TV stations in four markets -- Boston, Houston, Miami and San Francisco. The House Republicans blocked the DTV delay bill Wednesday (CD Jan 29 p1). Qualcomm opposed any delays in DTV transition, having spent hundreds of millions of dollars on its own DTV technology MediaFLO, he said. “This would allow Qualcomm to offer its MediaFLO service to an additional 40 million consumers,” he said. The equipment vendor expects revenue in Q1 to come in between $2.25 billion and $2.45 billion, it said. Operating income is expected to decline between 26 and 38 percent for the period. The company wasn’t considering “widespread layoffs,” though it was making “workforce adjustments” as necessary, particularly among its “contingent workforce,” Jacobs said. The vendor is prioritizing its research-and-development efforts in case of a prolonged downturn, the CEO said, and had a variety of cost-cutting opportunities to consider. The company’s chip sales depend on the buildout of 3G networks, which should come to fruition in the second half of the year, Jacobs said. In other trends that would favor Qualcomm, he mentioned carriers’ subsidies aimed at promoting smartphones, 20 Android products in the pipeline among handset vendors worldwide, Snapdragon design wins and HSPA and LTE deployments.
Satellite TV still dominates in the European HD market, but cable and IPTV are “accelerating their introductions of HD offerings,” said a new Euroconsult report. Satellite free-to-air remains the only HD option in many European countries, Euroconsult said. The number of European pay-TV networks offering HD almost tripled in the last two years, the report said. The number of HD channels in Europe doubled to 130, it said. Euroconsult estimates there will be 600 HD channels in Europe by 2013. “In 2013, over 38 million households should receive HD pay-TV services,” said Pacome Revillon, Euroconsult managing director.
Nokia’s Q4 profit dropped 69 percent from a year earlier, the company said Thursday, offering a bleak outlook for 2009. Profit fell to $749.8 million and sales were down 19 percent. The operating margin shrank to 3.9 percent, from 15.9 percent a year earlier, partly due to restructuring charges for Nokia Siemens Networks and amortization after the acquisition of the location company Navteq. Nokia said it expects mobile device volume to drop 10 percent in 2009, double its previous prediction. On a conference call, CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo blamed “even weaker consumer confidence, unprecedented currency volatility and credit tightness.” Sharp price competition in Q4 hurt Nokia’s market share, he said. It fell to 37 percent from 38 percent the previous quarter. The handset business suffered the most, sales dropping 27 percent year-over-year. The sharpest decline in handsets shipments, 36 percent, came in China, followed by the Middle East and Africa, 23 percent. Nokia also lost ground in the high-end, smartphone category. But it expects to maintain its global market share at 37 percent in Q1 this year. The company is set to slash costs in its handset unit and job cuts are unavoidable, Chief Financial Officer Rick Simonson said. In sales and marketing, Nokia will cut some product program spending, he said. Kallasvuo said the company will continue to invest, but more slowly.
Lobbying spending by communications firms is likely to show a slight overall decline in 2008, once fourth-quarter figures are compiled, according to initial filings with Congress. Fourth-quarter filings are due June 20, but mid- year comparisons show slower spending in the first half of the year compared with 2007: $100.1 million compared with $173.1 million in last year’s mid-year report, according to computations by CQ Political Moneyline. The communications industry ranks third in lobbying spending, behind the health care and finance and insurance sectors, according to Moneyline’s 2008 rankings.
Texas corrections officials this week scuttled a planned test of cell-jamming equipment, deciding not to follow South Carolina officials (CD Nov 25 p1) who conducted such a test last month over the objections of CTIA and wireless carriers. The test was scheduled for a jail in Austin, by CellAntenna, the Florida company that conducted the South Carolina test and hopes to perform similar demonstrations across the U.S. “At every turn, we have attempted to identify a legal way to perform this test so that we could move forward,” said Oliver Bell, chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice. “The bottom line at this point is that we have not identified a legal method. As such, I feel it is inappropriate to conduct the test. I cannot, in good faith, violate the law in front of our nearly 38,000 employees and then demand they violate no law under threat of prosecution.” But an FCC spokesman said in a statement Tuesday the commission encourages the state to move forward with the tests. “We recognize the concerns of public safety regarding this complex issue and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin remains committed to trying to work with public safety officials to address their needs,” an agency spokesman said.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin continues to stonewall House Democratic investigators, who released a report Tuesday alleging “egregious abuses of power” under his leadership, House Commerce Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich., told reporters. The FCC should fire its Homeland Security Chief Derek Poarch for “routinely violating” government travel regulations by flying first-class, renting “premium-class vehicles” and inflating expenses, Stupak said. “Mr. Poarch reportedly scoffed at advice from FCC staff that he was violating travel recommendations,” the report said.