Introducing blues legend Buddy Guy at the DMA-USTelecom- RIAA Digital Media Expo late Wed., Sen. Stevens (R-Alaska) said the GOP now understands what it’s like to have the blues, having lost so many seats in the election. Stevens sat on the stage during Guy’s performance for a crowd of legislators, aides and industry types. RIAA CEO Mitch Bainwol called the event -- a showcase of digital technologies like Microsoft’s Zune and MTV’s Urge -- a chance to have some fun and “respect private property” by downloading legally.
Congress is turning a “deaf ear to reality” by not passing a permanent, “strengthened” R&D tax credit that can keep America competitive with other nations for innovative research, outgoing Rep. Johnson (R-Conn.) said Tues. Speaking with returning Rep. Tiahrt (R-Kan.) and several tech trade groups, Johnson called herself “very hopeful the next Congress will have the guts” to pass a credit that doesn’t need annual renewal and that keeps U.S. research competitive with those of R&D-friendly places like India and Ireland.
Despite 12 years of GOP dominance in Congress and control of the White House since 2001, most of the communications sector’s trade associations and companies won’t be caught completely flat-footed by the Democrats’ reemergence as the party in charge in the House and Senate, sources said.
The FCC’s decision to classify BPL-enabled broadband services as information services will spur investments and rollouts, industry officials and analysts said. With Comr. McDowell abstaining, the FCC Fri. unanimously adopted an order to that effect, as expected (CD Nov 2 p1).
The Missoula Plan -- industry’s latest proposal to reform intercarrier compensation -- has gained the backing of midsized phone companies Embarq and Windstream. The announcement, made as comments on the plan were being filed Wed. at the FCC, matters because it signals broader support. Critics have derided the Missoula plan as backed mainly by 2 Bells, AT&T and BellSouth, and rural ILECs. The plan has a sprinkling of support from other segments, but most CLECs, wireless and cable companies don’t support it.
Reversing a 2005 decision to split into 2 shows, TIA and USTelecom said Wed. they're reuniting with a combined trade show (CD Oct 4 p7), NXTcomm, June 18-21 in Chicago. The name blends TIA’s GlobalComm and USTelecom’s TeleNext, officials told reporters in a news conference.
TIA and USTelecom plan a news conference today (Wed.) but won’t say what it’s about -- leading some to wonder if the 2 groups are recombining their annual trade shows. TIA Pres. Matt Flanigan told us in June he was open to working with USTelecom to reconstitute the old Supercomm (CD June 9 p9). This was the first year the 2 groups held separate shows -- USTelecom’s TelecomNext show in March in Las Vegas and TIA’s Globalcomm in June in Chicago. Flanigan and USTelecom Pres. Walter McCormick will speak at the 1:30 p.m. online news conference.
GENEVA -- Tech companies and civil liberties groups lobbied for a broadcast signal piracy-only treaty at a Tues. meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright & Related Rights (SCCR) here. The signal-theft approach, wide supported not only by those groups but in the U.S. and developing nations, is opposed by broadcasters and the EU, which want a rights- based accord aligning broadcast protections with earlier WIPO author and phonogram treaties (CD Sept 11 p10), Michelle Childs, Consumer Project on Technology’s (CPT) head of European affairs, said.
U.S. broadband service prices are rising despite hopes for increased competition, a Free Press report said: “Cable modem prices are holding constant or rising, and DSL customers on average are getting less bandwidth per dollar than they did just a year ago.” BPL, wireless broadband and satellite Web service marketshare fell over the past 5 years, said the study. People in rural areas are half as likely to get broadband as city dwellers. Other industrialized countries with lower population densities have higher broadband penetration, said the study. It said the FCC should do a better job collecting fast Internet access deployment data. Customer options have increased, an NCTA spokesman told us: “Most cable operators have increased the speed of their service for no additional charge.” FCC Chmn. Martin’s top priority is broadband deployment, an agency official told us, citing his comments at a Senate Commerce Committee renomination hearing Tues. (see separate story). USTelecom said it disagreed with the Free Press report. “DSL prices have fallen 15% just from 2004-2005, while speeds have doubled over the last 2 years,” said Tom Amontree, senior vp- strategic communications.
A “clear and pressing need” to update broadcasters’ signal rights justifies the proposed WIPO treaty, the NAB said in a letter to officials Thurs. The treaty would grant broad new intellectual property rights to broadcasters, “cablecasters” and possibly webcasters, critics have warned (CD June 12 p12.)