After missing a six-month deadline for completing LeEco's buy of Vizio, the companies announced Monday the deal is off due to “regulatory headwinds.” They signed a separate agreement under which Vizio connected TVs and displays will be sold in the China market, and they will incorporate LeEco’s user interface, content and distribution channels. The companies announced last summer that LeEco would buy Vizio for $2 billion as part of its strategy to bring its ecosystem of smart TVs, content and cloud services to North America. The deal also involved the spinoff from Vizio of Inscape, supplier of smart TV viewer data tracking services, which Vizio bought in 2015. Vizio still plans to spin off Inscape into a separate business entity as part of its strategic future growth plans, a Vizio spokeswoman emailed us. Vizio agreed last fall to a $2.2 million settlement (see 1702060042) after the FTC and New Jersey brought a complaint against the Inscape viewer-tracking feature, which spawned two dozen video-privacy class-action lawsuits in federal courts.

Southern Linc CEO Tami Barron met with Neşe Guendelsberger, acting chief of the FCC Wireless Bureau, on the FCC’s role in reviewing state proposals to opt out of FirstNet. “Nothing in the Commission’s review process should disfavor state plans that incorporate both a radio access network and a core network into the broadband communications networks that states may wish to deploy to support first responders in their jurisdictions,” Barron said, according to a filing in 16-269.

“CTIA reiterated the wireless industry’s commitment to working with the Commission on use of" embedded clickable links in wireless emergency alerts, "but noted its concerns about implementing such functionality without adequate feasibility testing,” said a filing in docket 15-91 on a meeting with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff. “CTIA and its members continue to urge the FCC and other governmental stakeholders to be mindful of the potential limitations of embedded reference functionality beyond the control of wireless carriers.” The association said the National Hurricane Center’s website wasn't available for a period of time during Hurricane Matthew. The standards work is complete but “implementation by handset manufacturers and operating system providers will be necessary before consumers will be able to ‘click’ on embedded references,” the group said.

Clues to how Apple phones, tablets, wearables and computers might look in the future can be found in U.S. patent application 2017/0093070, published March 30, describing methods for rendering all electrical contacts "hidden" so that they’re virtually invisible. First filed in September 2015, the patent suggests the same approach can be taken for TVs, cable boxes and cars. It acknowledges some peripherals like headphones can be connected wirelessly, but others either need a physical connection for power or work better when connected by electrical plug contacts. Apple’s answer is to blend new styles of electrical contacts with the device housing, said the patent. This is done with plugs that are made from insulating material dotted with tiny pathways filled with conductive material, it said. The pathways can be as little as 50 microns wide, the width of a human hair, it said. The electrically porous plugs push into holes in the casing to touch conductive plates on the inside of the casing, and there they connect with the device circuitry in the conventional manner. The plugs and socket hole have closely matching color and texture, so they're “imperceptible by the naked eye” and don't spoil the product's aesthetic appeal, said the patent. Apple representatives didn’t comment Friday on the invention’s commercial implications.

Verizon Telematics is appealing to parents with its next-generation Hum product that adds a safety score feature and navigation, Senior Product Manager Travis Scarcliff told us on a test drive in New York Wednesday. Verizon split its Hum offerings into three tiers last month, topped by the Hum X. Hum’s Safety Score gives information on how the car is being driven -- “whether you’re braking too hard or accelerating too fast or picking up your phone,” said Scarcliff. The carrier automatically is notified if a crash occurs, he said. Active trouble codes show up in vehicle scans, he said, alerting drivers to problems. Hum X is an overhaul of the Hum platform interface and brings Wi-Fi, near real-time tracking and mapping, Scarcliff said.

CTIA told FCC officials that facilitating small cell and other wireless facility buildout is good for the economy. Association representatives said in a filing in docket 16-421 they met with aides to commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O’Rielly. “CTIA highlighted the importance of sound policies at the federal, state, and local levels to facilitate the rapid and efficient deployment of wireless infrastructure to support 4G LTE and 5G networks,” CTIA said. “U.S. wireless carriers have invested $200 billion in 4G networks since 2010 and are anticipated to invest another $275 billion over the next seven years to build next-generation 5G networks. By developing policies that foster this capital investment, the Commission can help enable more than three million new American jobs and open the door for the wireless industry to add $500 billion to our economy.”

The Wireless Bureau said it started the four-month window for incumbent licensees in the 3650–3700 MHz band to file supplemental information required to define their grandfathered wireless protection zone as the FCC launches shared use of the 3.5 GHz band. The order on the Citizens Broadband Radio Service allowed for protection of the grandfathered incumbents in the nearby band. “The deadline for filing an application to be afforded protection is August 7,” the bureau said in a Friday public notice. “Licensees who do not meet this deadline may continue to operate, but will not be afforded protection from interference caused by new CBRS operations.” The FCC approved the initial 3.5 GHz NPRM in 2012 (see 1212130044), setting up an experimental three-tiered access and sharing model made up of federal and nonfederal incumbents, priority access licenses and general authorized access users. Also Friday, the bureau and the Office of Engineering and Technology established a “second wave” deadline for proposals from prospective spectrum access system administrator environmental sensing capability operators in the band. Companies that want to join others already approved have until May 31 to apply, a PN said.

Citing national security, the Federal Aviation Administration will restrict unauthorized drone flights over 133 military facilities in the U.S. starting April 14, the agency said in a Friday news release. "This is the first time the agency has instituted airspace restrictions that specifically apply" to drones, which can fly only "up to 400 feet within the lateral boundaries" of the military facilities, the FAA said. The restrictions have a few exceptions and violators may be subject to civil penalties or criminal charges, the agency said. It created an interactive online map that shows the restrictions, which will be also available on its mobile app. The agency said Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is evaluating options to implement a process that will accept petitions to bar or restrict drone flights over critical infrastructure and other facilities.

Verizon stressed the importance of streamlining wireless siting rules, on a Mobilitie petition asking the agency to pre-empt state and local authority over rights of way (see 1703080011). Replies were due Friday in docket 16-421 and Verizon was among a handful of early filers. The carrier invested tens of billions of dollars on its 4G network and is building hundreds of 5G sites “as the first step in our plans to spearhead the next generation of wireless service,” it said. “The Commission can and should use its statutory authority to relieve the burdens that local ordinances, restrictions on access to municipal and investor-owned utility poles, and historic preservation and tribal reviews impose on wireless carriers’ efforts to deploy wireless broadband technology,” Verizon said. “Delay is widespread and significant,” the Wireless Infrastructure Association commented, not posted at our deadline. “Local governments are adopting formal moratoria on the deployment of small wireless facilities, and many other local governments are creating de facto moratoria by refusing to meaningfully act on siting applications. Contrary to the suggestion of some local government commenters, delays are not driven by providers. Rather, lack of clarity or consistency in local requirements is a significant cause of delay.” WIA also complained about excessive regulation. “Companies deploying small wireless facilities report multi-year delays driven by cities micromanaging every element of the technology and deployment,” the group said. “Companies also experience delay where local governments constantly change their demands and requirements -- even after providers have worked with the local government over extended periods to develop a deployment that meets the local government’s desires.”

HEVC Advance, the one-stop-shop patent pool to license technology under the H.265 platform (see 1504010051), scored the biggest coup in its two-year existence Wednesday when it announced landing Samsung as both a licensor and licensee. "Having the support of the largest consumer electronics company in the world, and a leader in innovation with one of largest and most important HEVC/H.265 patent portfolios, will help eliminate HEVC/H.265 IP barriers and further accelerate 4K UHD adoption -- a big win for consumers and all market participants," said HEVC Advance CEO Pete Moller in a statement. Samsung is the largest single H.265 licensor in the rival MPEG LA pool, which declined to comment. Moller confirmed to us that Samsung is the first new HEVC Advance member to take advantage of an option to belong to both patent pools.