Toronto’s Redline Communications said the FCC and Industry Canada have both certified the company’s wireless broadband system, designed to operate in the TV white spaces. “It’s very gratifying to see two major regulatory bodies test and certify what Redline believes will be an important solution for our customers around the world,” said Rodney Cronin, director of product management, in a news release (http://bit.ly/17crdq6).

Global Eagle Entertainment will control about 70 percent of TV, movie and game content provided as in-flight entertainment to subscribing airlines globally after buying Travel Entertainment Group Equity from GCP Capital Partners for about $36 million in cash, Global Eagle said Monday. Travel Entertainment is the parent of IFE Services, a major provider of in-flight entertainment to airlines. Global Eagle will fold IFE’s existing business into its business operations, it said. IFE has an especially “strong customer presence among quickly-growing” airlines in developing markets in Africa, Asia and South America, said Global Eagle.

A Chinese submission last week of a revised sensitivities list for the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) is a promising gesture but represents inadequate concessions, said industry officials as U.S. negotiators prepared to meet ITA participants in Geneva this week. The participants are convening this week in Geneva to push ITA expansion conclusions by the World Trade Organization Bali ministerial meeting in December. The revised list hasn’t been made public, said industry officials. But it marks an important move forward, said Stephen Ezell, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation senior analyst: “The sensitivities list is still too restricted, too narrow. There needs to be a broader set of products in a final expansion deal.” The ITA hasn’t expanded since its 1996 inception. Negotiations collapsed in June after the Chinese released a broad set of sensitivity product lines, said panelists at an industry event earlier this month (CD Oct 9 p15). The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative had no comment. The sensitivities list includes harmonized system product lines that governments don’t want to receive duty-free status in a final expansion deal. “U.S. industry is very wed to getting an ambitious outcome,” said an industry executive. “The ITA has not been updated in 16 years and includes none of the most innovative product lines,” he said. The Chinese play a fundamental role in potential expansion but there need to be concessions from other countries as well, said the executive. The 70 total ITA participant countries stand to benefit significantly, said Ezell. “We estimate that a fully expanded ITA, meaning an agreement that has the full set of products laid out by U.S. negotiators, will strengthen the global economy by $190 billion a year,” he said.

Global Tel Link asked the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable (DTC) on Friday to put its prison calling rate reforms on hold “pending resolution of similar matters before” the FCC (http://1.usa.gov/H6MZjb). The order (CD Sept 30 p9) establishes rate caps and safe harbors for interstate inmate calling services (ICS) and it also included a further NPRM for “further and permanent reforms” on interstate ICS rates, as well as intrastate ICS rate reforms, said GTL. Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts, which made an initial filing on ICS reforms in 2009, argued that FCC action was needed for ICS rates “to provide national leadership for state regulatory agencies in Massachusetts,” said GTL. The ICS company said PLS has emphasized that the FCC’s ultimate actions regarding ICS rates and services are “important and influential to the Department’s view of these same issues.” The recent appeal by PLS (CD Oct 21 p12) is based on data submitted from the FCC’s ongoing ICS rates proceeding, and it argues for the DTC to follow the FCC’s lead, said GTL. If the DTC were to act on ICS rate reforms, it could “run the risk of adopting rules governing ICS that subsequently may be deemed inconsistent with the FCC’s determinations,” said GTL.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is “clearly on the wrong side of democracy” in blocking the confirmation of FCC Chairman nominee Tom Wheeler, said Communications Workers of America President Larry Cohen in a news release Monday. Cruz’s office has said the senator is blocking Wheeler because he wants to learn the nominee’s views on whether the commission would implement rules to require increased disclosure for sponsors of political ads (CD Oct 18 p3). “Disclosing who sponsors and pays for political ads is all about bringing transparency to our political system,” said Cohen. By blocking Wheeler over disclosure rules, Cruz is “supporting the ability of big money donors to spread their message in secrecy,” Cohen said. Cruz’s office didn’t comment.

AT&T U-verse is expanding its live TV offerings to Android tablets, said the company in a news release Monday (http://yhoo.it/1c9Zatt). AT&T U-verse offers more than 100 live channels on the U-verse app and Uverse.com, said the company.

The CableCARD encoding rules struck down in the EchoStar decision were unnecessary, and it’s “beyond the FCC’s authority” to reinstate them, said MPAA in reply comments (http://bit.ly/1a8y6au) filed in response to TiVo’s petition (http://bit.ly/12VRaS) to restore the rules. “The current dynamic marketplace for video delivery demonstrates MPAA’s long-standing contention that encoding rules are not necessary to fulfill the FCC’s statutory obligations or to promote the public interest.” TiVo hasn’t shown evidence that consumers are harmed by the lack of encoding rules, said MPAA. “There is no evidence on the record that encoding rules have any demonstrable effect on the commercial market for navigation devices or are necessary to sustain a commercial market for such devices.” Since the EchoStar ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found that the encoding rules aren’t necessary to assure the availability of CableCARDs, the FCC doesn’t have the authority to reinstate them, said MPAA. “The record demonstrates that the FCC lacks jurisdiction to re-impose encoding rules."

More residents in Kansas City neighborhoods in Kansas and Missouri can now sign up for Google Fiber, said the company in a blog post Monday (http://bit.ly/1i9fiJ8). Half of the fiberhoods must register by Nov. 7, and the rest need to register by Nov. 14, said Google.

Inteliquent expressed its support for the data collection and reporting obligations in the upcoming rural call completion order, “so long as the ’two hop’ safe harbor is included in the rules,” it told FCC officials in an ex parte filing detailing its meeting on the Monday before the government shutdown (http://bit.ly/HdTTm8). Inteliquent offers tandem network and IP-based interconnection service to cable and CLEC providers. It’s also important, Inteliquent said, that the “two hop” safe harbor not count the terminating tandem as a separate hop in the call path. “This is particularly important in rural areas, as multiple rural carriers often subtend a single tandem, and there is no practical way to directly connect to every rural end office.” The company also questioned potential rules banning “false ringing.” Especially on wireless networks, where completing a call to a roaming party might take longer than on wireline networks, “presenting the caller with ringing provides comfort that the call has been dialed correctly and is being processed,” Inteliquent said. The company also urged the FCC to resolve industry disputes involving the tariffing and collecting of end-office switching charges owed to CLECs when they partner with over-the-top VoIP providers.

Audio recordings for the FCC’s Connect America Fund Phase II webinars, held in September, are available at http://bit.ly/16noWrx, the Wireline Bureau said. The recordings discuss the cost model, provide an overview of the bureau’s progress in implementing Phase II, and describe the process by which parties can challenge whether an area is served by an unsubsidized competitor.