An interconnection firm for data centers and communications networks raised $11 million in financing. Ranovus, founded last year, said it uses multi-wavelength laser and digital and photonics integrated circuit technologies. Connectivity speeds range from 100 Gbps to multiple terabits a second, and investors in the company include Azure Capital Partners, T-Venture and BDC Venture Capital, said Ranovus in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1b5IuiT).

One World Sports recently updated its network to connect with viewers across multiple platforms, said CEO Sandy Brown in an interview at a CableFax conference in New York. The company’s HD conversion in July gave the network an opportunity to rebrand, he said Tuesday. The network provides FIFA games in Asia and Europe, along with the OneAsia golf tour, cricket games and table tennis, he said. Viewers are able to stream content live across multiple platforms and half of the channel’s content is available on-demand, said Brown.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., threatened to try to end the Lifeline program if the FCC can’t control it. She harangued the agency for what she deems to be waste, fraud and abuse in the program, intended for low-income Americans, and offered to help grant the FCC additional statutory authority to resolve the problems if needed -- or to kill it if not: “I am equally prepared to aggressively pursue legislation to terminate the Lifeline program if the FCC continues to prove it cannot control the program,” she told FCC acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn in a letter McCaskill’s office released Monday (http://1.usa.gov/18nw45f). The senator focused on a Scripps Howard News Service report on Lifeline providers TerraCom and YourTel in which former sales agents “admitted to fabricating and signing enrollment documents at the request of their superiors,” with several people listed on applications claiming they had never seen or signed them, according to McCaskill’s letter. The FCC has defended recent changes to the program as preventing such waste, fraud and abuse and saving money. But McCaskill blasted the FCC changes to the program as “utterly lacking” and “proven badly insufficient.” She pointed to the “single enforcement action since it expanded controls,” amounting to $1 million in fines, and the “ballooned” costs since Lifeline expanded to offering prepaid wireless service in 2008. She wants the Justice Department and the FCC to pursue TerraCom and YourTel. McCaskill has scrutinized the program for years, most recently when questioning FCC nominee Michael O'Rielly at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing this month (CD Sept 19 p1).

The FCC Enforcement Bureau adopted a consent decree resolving an investigation into Kentucky-based Lightyear Network Solutions, it said in an order released Monday (http://bit.ly/16XNEfK). The decree sets up a three-year compliance plan. “Lightyear’s Operating Procedures shall include internal procedures and policies specifically designed to ensure that Lightyear complies with the Federal Regulatory Reporting and Contribution Rules,” the decree said. “Lightyear shall also develop a Compliance Checklist that describes the steps a Covered Employee must follow to ensure compliance with the Federal Regulatory Reporting and Contribution Rules.” It included provisions on the setup of a compliance manual and a compliance training program. Lightyear agreed to “make a voluntary contribution to the United States Treasury” of $475,000, according to the decree.

A Minority Media and Telecommunications Council study on the impacts of cross-ownership was negligent when it erroneously identified stations as female- or minority-owned that weren’t, said Free Press in an ex parte letter released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/18WuzaD). MMTC had said it was using data from the FCC database to identify station owners (CD Aug 22 p14), but Free Press said checking the commission’s data and verifying the station’s true owners “required less than an hour” to complete. “Negligence on MMTC’s part does not constitute a Free Press error, or lack of merit in our objection,” said Free Press. “That MMTC’s methodology was deeply flawed indicates that its conclusions cannot justify any changes to the Commission’s ownership rules,” Free Press said. Free Press also took issue with MMTC allegations that Free Press has called the study biased. “At no time has Free Press said that MMTC coached respondents on how to answer survey questions. We merely noted that any conflicts of interest or potential conflicts should have been disclosed,” Free Press said. The ex parte also reiterated Free Press’s earlier complaints about the study’s peer review process and the lack of info about respondents provided by MMTC (CD Aug 8 p3). “We do not deny that MMTC made an effort,” said Free Press. “However, that effort has fallen short of its potential and failed to produce valuable conclusions.” MMTC President David Honig said he was still reviewing Free Press’s comments.

Social TV applications can help users find new content about their favorite shows during the offseason, said industry executives at a CableFax event Tuesday. Zeebox found users were still using their “TV rooms” to interact with other users during the offseason of The Voice, said Jason Forbes, managing director. “People are interested in sustaining the conversation after the season ended in May, and we found it helped to build communities around the show after the fact,” said Forbes. GetGlue provides new weekly content for shows during the offseason, said Sean Besser, executive vice president-business development. “We have curators who are scouring the Web for the most interesting content about The Walking Dead to keep people engaged,” said Besser. “We found people love this, and it has made us a go-to place where people can get engaged with the content.” Both companies said social applications need to a way to monitor impact on the viewing level. “We want to see more companies in ratings, so there are third parties who can find out what is happening in the ecosystem,” said Besser. Cox is using its Contour service to help viewers discover content, said Adam Naide, social media leader. “If we wrap the content around the Contour brand rather than promoting it, the customers will love it,” said Naide.

Deploying TD-LTE at 600 MHz “will result in both efficiency losses and operational deficiencies,” T-Mobile US representatives said Thursday during a meeting with officials from the FCC Wireless Bureau, the Office of Engineering and Technology and the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, said an ex parte report carrier counsel Trey Hanbury filed Monday. TD-LTE in low-frequency spectrum has “link budget deficits and performance constraints compared to FDD LTE as well as real-world limitations on the feasibility of variable downlink-uplink configurations,” Hanbury said in the filing. “TD-LTE may function as an alternative for supplemental downlink spectrum, but guard band requirements must be considered in that scenario.” T-Mobile representatives also urged the FCC to consider terrain topology and morphology when it sets exclusion zones. In Seattle, for example, “failing to account for the surrounding mountains that block transmissions would result in larger exclusion zones than required to protect wireless broadband services in adjacent markets from harmful interference,” Hanbury said (http://bit.ly/16XLL2O).

The FCC announced details for its Sept. 30 workshop on the channel reassignment for TV stations after the broadcast incentive auction, in a public notice Monday (http://fcc.us/15qtDel). The first panel will be on costs of channel reassignment in the wake of the auction, and will feature Chesapeake RF Consultants President Joe Davis, NAB General Counsel Jane Mago, American Tower Vice President-Broadcast Development Peter Starke, Dielectric National Sales Manager Joe Zuba and be moderated by Media Bureau Senior Adviser-Broadcast Spectrum Rebecca Hanson. Panel two will be on strategies to promote coordination during the transition, and ways to mitigate costs broadcasters may incur from channel reassignment, and have Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake as moderator, Sinclair Vice President-Advanced Technology Mark Aitken, New York State Broadcasters Association President David Donovan, NAB Deputy General Counsel Erin Dozier, attorney Robert Kelly of Squire Sanders and Association of Public Television Stations Executive Vice President Lonna Thompson. The workshop will be from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room. It will be streamed live at http://www.fcc.gov/live. Questions from the Internet audience can be submitted anonymously via email to learn@fcc.gov and via Twitter using the hashtag #fcclive.

Disney continues to “watch and evaluate” UltraViolet, Lori MacPherson, executive vice president-home entertainment, told us. Its position on the digital rights authentication and cloud-based licensing system “hasn’t changed” and the company has “made no plans to” support UltraViolet, she said. Disney remains the only major Hollywood studio that doesn’t support UltraViolet. The company has “three main criteria for making our content available on any format or ecosystem,” and they are that there must be “adequate content protection,” as well as a “sustainable business model,” and it must also provide a “great consumer experience,” said MacPherson. Disney opted to develop its own Keychest digital rights technology instead, but MacPherson provided no update on the company’s plans for that technology. Disney, meanwhile, has offered Digital Copy with its movies on optical disc for several years and introduced a Digital Copy Plus website in June, she said. The Plus enhancement “makes it much easier for consumers to redeem their Digital Copy and also gives them a wider selection of partners through which they can redeem, and that’s been really successful” for Disney, she said. Iron Man 3, released Tuesday on home video, is compatible with Digital Copy Plus and some catalog releases have also used it, including Peter Pan and Robin Hood, she said. Usage data weren’t provided by Disney. But Disney has “gotten a lot of anecdotal feedback that consumers find it much more intuitive and easier to use” than standard Digital Copy, she said.

Digital video is not running on a sustainable ecosystem, said Laura Martin, Needham & Co. analyst, at a CableFax TV conference in New York on Tuesday. The TV ecosystem is making $150 billion in revenue this year compared to $4 billion made by YouTube, said Martin. “In TV, no one really agrees on everything, which is a better process.” YouTube should have created channels within six months of the website’s creation to promote competition, she said. “The Internet operates in a winner-takes-all market philosophy and it is not helpful to YouTube when they hold all of the power.” Clearleap is providing a platform to operate across a variety of devices, said David Mowrey, product management vice president. “Creating a platform that can help you control your brand is a challenge, but it is solvable,” said Mowrey in reference to over-the-top content. SeaChange International is also working behind the scenes for operators, said Alan Hoff, strategic marketing vice president. “In home gateways, we are able to get incredible assistance from operators because they do the research and we are bringing the expertise.” Content providers need to work on two streams of revenue, said Martin. “Netflix is not sustainable with one stream of revenue, and needs to take advantage of the other revenue streams that the Internet provides.”