Ultra HD still faces some challenges ahead of its launch, but there are many positive signs, said Greg DePriest, an ex-NBCUniversal executive who just started his own technology consultancy, in a USTelecom-sponsored webinar Thursday. “I think real 4K receiver availability is going to be next year, not this year,” although a limited number will ship in 2013, he said. DePriest declined to predict when pricing on Ultra HD TVs will be low enough for sales to become significant in the U.S. But he expressed confidence that CE manufacturers will know when the time is right to lower pricing and add features to spur demand. As in transitions in the past, CE manufacturers will need content to stimulate sales of 4K displays, but content companies will “need a reason to produce” it, he said. But “of all the players, I think distribution is the key” to 4K’s success because if you can distribute 4K content, you can better test the market for demand, he said. We'll know if Ultra HD is moving forward in the U.S. if we start seeing more public demonstrations of the technology and if 4K and 8K promotion groups are created, he said. Next year’s World Cup will spur demand for Ultra HD, he predicted. “The events that are likely to drive” the launches of 4K broadcast services in 2014 and 8K services in 2019 or 2020 will include the Winter Olympics in South Korea in 2018 and the 2020 Summer Olympics, he said. “This is an aggressive schedule” for the rollout of the services, but we still “need additional standards” and “more equipment development,” he said. Some device makers will be unwilling to wait for 8K and it’s not clear if 4K and 8K can “co-exist,” he said. Content creators looking to purchase equipment will be left trying to decide whether to support 4K or 8K, he said. Ultra HD broadcast trial activity remains “centered” in Japan and South Korea for now, he said. There have been 4K trials in South Korea since September 2012 and that’s continuing there this year, he said. “The Korean community” has expressed a lot of interest in 4K and 8K adoption, and “it’s clear that Korea is on a path forward,” he said. In Japan, manufacturers are focused on 4K, he said. NHK targeted an experimental broadcast 8K service launch for 2020 in Japan, but that may happen sooner, he said. In Europe “there is increasing momentum in the 4K camp,” with satellite trials by Eutelsat and SES, he said. Spain telecom operator Abertis recently demonstrated the first terrestrial 4K service, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, on Sharp’s 84-inch TV, he said. In the U.S., “it’s somewhat difficult to tell what the status” of 4K and 8K broadcast tests are, he said. NBCUniversal teamed with the BBC and other companies overseas for 8K demonstrations of the London Olympic Games, he said. Netflix also teamed with Samsung at CES for a 4K demonstration, he said. But there’s no “open advocate” yet in the U.S. for 4K or 8K among broadcasters, he said. CBS had been a strong proponent of HD, he said. DePriest was vice president of technology at NBCUniversal, where he led its Washington demonstration of 8K technology during the London Olympic Games in cooperation with NHK and the BBC.

The FCC’s interim measures to prevent misuse of the IP Captioned Telephone Service (CTS) saw universal support from commenters, who generally urged that most or all of the interim changes become permanent. The commission adopted the measures in a January order. However, some commenters cautioned that further study is needed before making permanent a default “off” position of IP CTS devices and software to prevent inadvertent use, warning of harm to the hard-of-hearing community.

The FCC 2011 pole attachment order was upheld unanimously by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/XAuJD3). The FCC had found that ILECs were included in the protections of Section 224 of the Communications Act, which gives advantages to some companies that seek to attach cables and network equipment to utility poles. Even though the order in some places “reverses decades-old Commission policy,” the commission met the required “modest demands for changing its policy,” Senior Judge Stephen Williams wrote for himself and Judges David Tatel and David Sentelle. “Upholding its decision follows ineluctably."

AT&T fleshed out several details of its proposed wire center deregulatory trials at an FCBA event Wednesday night, characterizing the petition as a relatively modest request. “We didn’t ask for any particular relief,” said Hank Hultquist, vice president-regulatory affairs. “We didn’t ask to end the world as we know it.” In its upcoming reply comments, AT&T will try to clear up perceptions that it’s asking for pre-emption, or “to end competitors’ rates to UNEs [unbundled network elements], or interconnection, or anything else,” Hultquist said. “We're asking for a fairly narrow trial.” Representatives from various sectors of the telecom industry supported the trials, but said the FCC must ensure that public safety and consumer protections continue to apply no matter what technology is ultimately used.

Commenters generally supported a process proposed by the FCC Wireline Bureau to let parties challenge census blocks misidentified by the National Broadband Map (NBM). The process would let parties challenge census blocks identified as eligible to receive Connect America Fund Phase II support, when the parties argue they're actually unserved by an unsubsidized competitor. Cable and wireless ISPs offered some tweaks to the process. USTelecom and several rural associations offered alternative proposals that would involve recommendations by state authorities.

As USTelecom waits for the FCC to act on the more controversial elements of its petition for forbearance from legacy dominant carrier regulations, the industry has been engaging in soul-searching about which 20th-century regulations should be brought into a modern world. A USTelecom event Thursday morning (http://bit.ly/WrdL8I) set out to determine “the point” of voice regulation. Panelists agreed the government has a role in ensuring 911 calls go through, but differed on how far the government should go in mandating reliability in general.

Comments are due Feb. 27 on USTelecom’s petition seeking a waiver of rules on “no-exogenous cost data filing requirements for the Short Form Tariff Review Plan,” said an FCC public notice (http://bit.ly/WIYLVr). USTelecom also asks that the deadline for the short form plan be moved to May 17 to give price cap carriers additional time to prepare their cost data. Replies in docket 13-42 are due March 11.

President Barack Obama touted his executive order on cybersecurity during his State of the Union speech Tuesday as a step to “strengthen our cyberdefenses by increasing information sharing, and developing standards to protect our national security, our jobs, and our privacy,” and urged Congress to pass legislation to further the order’s goals. Enemies of the U.S. are “seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, and our air traffic control systems,” he said. “We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy."

NTIA hires Juliana Gruenwald, ex-National Journal, as press secretary … Brightstar wireless distributor hires Daniel Currie, ex-SmartRoam, as president-international sales and operations, mobile device protection subsidiary eSecuritel … Lobbyist registrations: NCTA, Republic Consulting … USTelecom board adds Anand Vadapalli, Alaska Communications; and Dan Overland, Pottawatomie Telephone; and replacements for directors retiring from the association’s board are Craig Silliman, Verizon Communications, for Tom Tauke, who had taken a different job at the telco (CD Dec 12 p23); and Royster Tucker, North State Communications, for Hayden McKenzie.

The FCC Wireline Bureau gave itself a 90-day extension to act on a USTelecom petition seeking forbearance of several legacy rules, in an order adopted Thursday (http://bit.ly/WzsQqt). Without the extension, the requests would have been “deemed granted,” the order said. “The USTelecom Petition raises significant questions” that require “additional time” to “fully examine” whether forbearance is warranted, the order said. FCC officials said Tuesday an order on circulation would grant several unopposed items in USTelecom’s request, but that the more complex issues will require additional time to consider (CD Feb 6 p6).