Public broadcasters’ new strategy of lobbying local franchising authorities (LFAs) to get digital cable carriage (CD June 5 p8) appears to be setting them on a collision course with public, educational and governmental (PEG) access providers, which accuse public TV stations of trying to “steal” their channels. Having failed in more than 3 years of negotiations with MSOs to get national carriage agreements with more than a few MSOs, and with no help forthcoming from the FCC or Congress, the Assn. of Public TV Stations (APTS) recently announced that public broadcasters were asking LFAs to intervene, although the association didn’t make clear how it proposed to get cities to compel cable operators to carry local PTV stations. Because requiring cable operators to carry a particular type of programming would infringe on the First Amendment, the LFAs’ only means of getting carriage for PTV stations would be to accommodate them in the space allocated for PEG access, analysts said.

SpatiaLight is expected to ship first 200 of its imagEngine microdisplays this month to Skyworth Display and another 400 by end of 3rd quarter, company said in quarterly filing with SEC. Delivery of 0.77” displays is first since Skyworth signed agreement in Jan. to purchase 14,100 units, first of which originally were scheduled to ship in March. Skyworth initial order in 2002 was for 30,000 units. Display has 1,280x1,024 resolution, 350:1 contrast ratio, 300-400 lumens. After shipping first 600 units, SpatiaLight is required to deliver 1,500 per month until order is complete, company said. SpatiaLight is developing microdisplays using Fuji Photo Optical light engine and Varitronix is assembling device. SpatiaLight signed series of agreements with manufacturers including China Electronics and Hisense, but Skyworth is first to take delivery of product for use in rear-projection TV. China Electronics showed 52” rear- projection TV based on SpatiaLight’s imagEngine at Society for Information Display show last year. Daewoo Electronics signed licensing agreement with SpatiaLight earlier this year. Meanwhile, SpatiaLight said 2nd-quarter loss widened to $3.1 million from $1.2 million year earlier as stock-based and general expenses soared to $1.4 million from $3,000 due to stock sale in May. Selling, general and administrative expenses jumped to $915,000 from $581,000 because of payment of $250,000 banking fee incurred by acting CEO Robert Olins. SpatiaLight also raised $2.7 million in private placement on Aug. 8 of 1.2 million shares priced at $2.28. Money raised through private placement coupled with $1.4 million in anticipated stock subscriptions will fund SpatiaLight’s operations through 2004, company said.

Broadband-over-power line (BPL) providers shouldn’t be classified as CLECs as long as they or their affiliates don’t offer local exchange services, the Mich. PSC told the FCC. In reply comments on the FCC’s BPL inquiry, the PSC pointed out that Qwest and Verizon wanted all broadband providers to be treated equally but Qwest was concerned that if BPL providers were considered only as CLECs, they wouldn’t be obliged to make pole attachments available to ILECs. The PSC said that if BPL companies did provide basic local exchange services, they should be classified as CLECs and required to make available poles at reasonable rates, terms and conditions. Referring to concerns raised by some commentators over the potential for cross-subsidization by utilities to provide BPL services resulting in electric ratepayers’ ending up funding the broadband network, the Mich. agency said state commissions should be empowered to deal with such issues “since they have ample authority over both industries (electric and communications) and thus are better qualified to act.” In Mich., the PSC said, facilities-based broadband providers were governed by the Metropolitan Extension Telecom Rights-of-Way Oversight Act and BPL providers would be covered under that statute. It said the Mich. Broadband Development Authority Act had provisions for financing broadband providers and BPL companies could take advantage of the incentives. On interference issues, the PSC said the FCC should rely on extensive field testing by independent parties rather than those of telecom and power industries. The Central States VHF Society (CSVHFS), urging the Commission not to authorize the deployment of BPL, said it agreed with the American Radio Relay League and other commentators that BPL was a major threat to all users of the RF spectrum. “Once BPL is authorized for operational use, we are certain there would be great difficulty monitoring, controlling, enforcing and possibly terminating its use, no matter what it does to the public safety systems, homeland security systems, DoD missile defense systems and intelligence community users,” it said. The Institute of Electronic & Electrical Engineers (IEEE) said that, based on comments submitted to the Commission, Part 15 rules didn’t require any technical rule change to specifically accommodate BPL emissions because commentators for and against BPL described no reports of harmful interference during trials. All comments were based on potential for interference, it said. It also said no changes were needed for equipment certification.

Wireless carriers, privacy advocates and public safety groups differed over details of when federal law requires a mobile operator to divulge caller location information sent to a 911 center receiving an emergency call. The FCC sought feedback on a public safety petition on how provisions on customer privacy in the Communications Act intersected with newer language in the Patriot Act and other laws. One issue raised was the privacy protections when a 911 caller was dialing on behalf of someone else.

Media Access Project asked the 3rd U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia, to overturn the FCC’s media ownership rules. MAP’s appeal, filed on behalf of the Philadelphia-based Prometheus Radio Project, also asked the court to delay the effectiveness of the FCC’s decision until the judicial review was complete. Absent such a stay, the new rules become effective Sept. 4. NAB filed an appeal in the D.C. Circuit, so MAP’s filing sets up a lottery whereby all the appeals will be heard before one court. MAP argued that, given the likelihood that Congress would overturn all or part of the order, Prometheus would incur “irreparable harm” without a stay. It said that without a stay, “massive consolidation” would happen before court action was finished. MAP called the order arbitrary and capricious and said the agency had failed to analyze how its new cross-media limit would affect competition in the market for local news. MAP also charged that the order had “glaring” inconsistencies, among them that it counted UHF stations differently for purposes of national TV limits and local limits, and that the FCC’s decision to count noncommercial radio stations effectively raised limits in radio, too. The FCC’s decision to use bright line rules while refusing to consider challenges to transfers in compliance with the rules violates the Communications Act, MAP said. Finally, it said, the FCC failed to provide adequate public notice under the Administrative Procedure Act.

Canada’s public broadcaster, CBC-TV, can continue to show popular U.S. movies in prime time since they represent “the best the world has to offer,” the Canadian Radio-TV & Telecom Commission (CRTC) ruled Wed. The unanimous decision concluded that broadcasting non-Canadian films was “not inconsistent with the CBC’s mandate” under the Bcstg. Act, even though the govt.-owned broadcaster was required to focus on Canadian content and programming. Private broadcasters opposed CBC’s application and are upset with the ruling, contending that public money is being used to compete with private broadcasters and is driving up fees for programs in demand. The decision “doesn’t have any rationale or justification,” Canadian Assn. of Bcstrs. (CAB) Pres. Glenn O'Farrell said: “It raises questions once again as to the commission’s ability to render decisions that will be seen by the Canadian public as being reasonable and fair.” He said the decision “takes [CBC] further down the road to being more of a U.S. superstation than a publicly funded public service.” A CBC spokesman said the decision shouldn’t result in any major changes because the broadcaster was guided by a public service mandate that required programming to be predominantly Canadian: “That’s why our schedule is [almost] 90% Canadian. The priority for us has and will be Canadian programs and films.” The CRTC had explained in its decision that the Bcstg. Act took into account “that a certain amount of such non-Canadian programming could be included in the CBC’s schedules… The commission would be concerned if, in the future, the number of non-Canadian blockbuster films were permitted to erode the high levels of Canadian content that viewers have traditionally expected of their national public broadcaster.” The commission said CBC’s past record and continuing commitments suggested that CBC would remain mainly Canadian, but the commission would annually review the network’s broadcast of non-Canadian feature films in prime time. The decision amended the network’s 7-year license, granted in 2000, which had prevented CBC from broadcasting in prime time any movie that had been released commercially within 2 years of its planned TV air date and was listed by Variety magazine as having been one of the top 100 highest grossing films in N. America in the last 10 years. The regulator had previously waived that condition until Sept. 1, 2003, when the broadcaster accused the regulator of “micromanaging” and “making unacceptable intrusions into CBC’s managerial and programming independence” and said it already had bought the rights to many such films. In March, CBC asked for an extension of the waiver for the last 4 years of its license, which the CRTC now has granted.

Capitol Hill will remain a key arena in digital copyright wars as courts and new Internet business models fail to stem unauthorized copying quickly enough for content owners, movie studio representatives and their adversaries said in American Bar Assn. (ABA) annual meeting sessions in San Francisco.

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) and other consumer advocates warned Tues. that the cable industry had such a lock on video programming that not having cable was like “opting out of democracy.” In a report Tues. titled “The Failure of Cable Deregulation,” U.S. PIRG said cable rates had risen at 3 times the rate of inflation since the 1996 Telecom Act deregulated cable. For basic and expanded basic, rates have risen by more than 50%, the report said, and some cities, N.Y.C. for example, had been hit particularly hard with increases of as much as 94%.

RIAA, whose campaign to unearth identities of thousands of Internet file-swappers so it can sue them has prompted public furor, legal challenges and congressional scrutiny, heard Mon. from ISPs worried that record industry’s tactics would drive them out of business. In letter to RIAA Pres. Cary Sherman, telecom public policy advocate Net Coalition and 13 other ISPs and ISP associations posed series of questions they wanted RIAA to answer about process, procedure and justification for seeking thousands of subpoenas under Sec. 512(h) of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). ISPs also requested meeting with RIAA to address “concerns and confusion” generated by “unprecedented legal initiative.”

Although adoption of the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement (NPA) to protect historic interest and streamline the review process for telecom facilities in historic areas is a laudable goal, the draft agreement contains flaws that must be corrected, parties said in comments to the FCC. They generally supported the draft NPA by the FCC, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Offices. The agreement would streamline siting decisions under Sec. 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), which requires federal agencies to consider the impact of construction and modification of wireless facilities located near historic properties.