Bright House Networks’ Set Back Box is “gaining traction” in the hospitality market in Orlando and Tampa, said the company in a news release Friday (http://prn.to/15JFtPI). The box provides more than 70 HD channels, free video-on-demand and an interactive programming guide, said Bright House. The box encrypts and decrypts premium channels, so hotels don’t need Pro:Idiom televisions to receive premium channel services, and it gives hotels the capability to create custom channels for their own programming and information, said the company.

Objections to Local TV’s request to transfer control of three TV stations to Dreamcatcher Broadcasting under shared service agreements (SSAs) as part of Local’s proposed $2.73 billion sale of its TV stations to Tribune are “philosophical” rather than “grounded in the specifics of the proposed transaction,” said Tribune in opposition comments filed this week alongside similar ones from Local and Dreamcatcher. Free Press and Put People First filed a petition to deny the sale because of market overlaps between newspapers and TV stations in Hampton Roads, Va., and Wilkes-Barre, Pa., which they say conflicts with FCC cross-ownership rules (CD Aug 21 p22). Tribune, Dreamcatcher and Local said the arguments raised by the consumer groups are already being considered by the FCC in its ownership proceeding, and they can’t be considered as part of an individual transaction. “Petitioners’ attempt to secure changes in the Commissions’ multiple ownership rules through private litigation also is disingenuous,” said Tribune. The groups had also attacked Dreamcatcher’s part in the transaction, calling it a “shell corporation” that will only own the stations on paper while Tribune provides them with services. However, Tribune said the FCC has established a 15 percent threshold for shared services -- if a company provides less than that amount of a station’s services, “joint operating arrangements are presumptively non-attributable, irrespective of the back-office, technical or operational services they entail,” said Tribune. The FCC also can’t make approval of the Tribune merger or the Dreamcatcher/Local transaction contingent on the outcome of a future rulemaking to eliminate the UHF discount, said Local. “Tribune, Dreamcatcher, and Local TV entered into their respective transactions in good faith reliance on Commission Rules in effect at the time of filing,” said Tribune’s filing. Dreamcatcher also argued that the public interest groups don’t have standing to oppose the transfer of one of the stations, WNEP-TV in Scranton, Pa. Though the groups submitted testimonials from viewers affected by the deal, Dreamcatcher said no testimonials from viewers of WNEP were included. Therefore, the groups’ petition to deny “should be dismissed with respect to that application,” said Dreamcatcher’s filings. Free Press and Put People First didn’t comment.

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said middle school students in McDowell County will receive laptops partially funded by West Virginia’s Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grant funds, in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1alNoLG). The $117,750 grant will provide refurbished computers and training, and will benefit 785 students in the county, said the Democratic governor who is the state’s co-chair for ARC. The purchase of the laptops is also funded through a matching grant from Connect2Compete and Reconnecting McDowell, said Tomblin.

Immersion signed a “broad multi-year” licensing deal with Chinese mobile company Xiaomi that Immersion said late Thursday will enable its Basic Haptics and select TouchSense and Integrator software to be used in Xiaomi’s smartphones. Immersion declined to say Friday how many years the deal is for. The recently shipped Mi3 is Xiaomi’s first smartphone to ship under the deal and features TouchSense technology, said Immersion. Immersion worked closely with Xiaomi to “design tactile effects that create a rich user experience and deliver a distinctive and branded feel” to MIUI, Xiaomi’s custom Android interface, said Dennis Sheehan, Immersion senior vice president-sales and marketing, in a news release. Xiaomi is Immersion’s first direct mobile OEM licensee in China, he said.

If confirmed as an FCC commissioner, Mike O'Rielly plans to divest his stock in Yahoo within 90 days, according to documents posted at the U.S. Office of Government Ethics website. The Senate Commerce Committee is expected to hold a hearing on O'Rielly’s nomination around the middle of this month, potentially during the week of Sept. 16 (CD Aug 30 p10). President Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate O'Rielly, a top staffer for Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, for the FCC just before Congress entered its August recess. “With regard to Yahoo! Inc., I will not participate personally and substantially in any matter that has a direct and predictable effect on the financial interest of the entity until I have divested it,” unless first obtaining a written waiver, O'Rielly told FCC General Counsel Sean Lev in a July 22 letter. O'Rielly will reinvest the money in “non-conflicting assets,” he said. O'Rielly listed the value of the Yahoo stock as falling between $1,001 and $15,000, in another document. His other stock holdings include Bank of America, Citigroup, ExxonMobil and other entities not potentially regulated by the FCC. In the letter, O'Rielly offered the required ethics statements on avoiding conflicts of interest.

The California Public Utilities Commission approved Thursday an additional California Advanced Services Fund grant of $9.9 million to complete the Digital 395 project (http://bit.ly/18IAZun). The new funding will cover new poles or “undergrounding” fiber due to new pole loading factors adopted by the PUC; unanticipated boring costs arising from certain permits due to environmental and cultural sites consideration; construction costs for the distribution backbone to connect anchor institutions and other broadband providers; and the remaining administration and overhead labor costs to complete the tasks. In December 2009, the PUC awarded more than $19 million to the California Broadband Cooperative to construct the Digital 395 project (CD Dec 7/09 p8). The funding from the PUC was 19 percent of the total estimated project cost, with 80 percent of funding coming from the NTIA, said the PUC. The Digital 395 project will be a 530-mile 150-gigabit fiber middle mile/backhaul route along U.S. Highway 395 from Barstow, Calif., to the Nevada state line ending in Carson City, Nev., said the PUC.

Hisense will use Hillcrest Labs’s patented Freespace in-air pointing and motion control software in its next-generation of smart TVs and Pulse set-top boxes, the companies said Wednesday. Freespace enables point-and-click, gesture and motion control of smart TV devices via in-air movements of a handheld remote control, said the companies in a news release. It said that lets users navigate their TV user interface just like they do on computers, smartphones and tablets.

NAB will “pursue the relocation” of a new headquarters facility in the Capitol Hill/Capitol Riverfront section of Washington, D.C., said the association in a news release Thursday. The decision to relocate came after a unanimous vote by the board, said the release. “The decision came as a result of months of strategic assessment on how best to improve NAB’s advocacy efforts in Washington, and to diversify assets of the broadcast industry’s principal trade association.” NAB owns its current headquarters building, at 1771 N St. NW, near Dupont Circle. “Traffic has become so congested in much of Washington that it is extremely difficult for members of Congress and the FCC to visit NAB’s current headquarters,” said NAB President Gordon Smith. “A move to the Capitol Hill/Capitol Riverfront area would provide policymakers and regulators easier accessibility to NAB."

Boingo Wireless said it opened Boingo Passpoint, a commercial Next Generation Hotspot Wi-Fi network, at Chicago’s O'Hare International Airport. The Boingo Passpoint network enables “seamless” roaming and carrier offload, automatic network identification, authentication and encryption without requiring user intervention, Boingo said. The network is available for end-to-end testing by mobile carriers, Wi-Fi operators and smartphone manufacturers, Boingo said. “We believe that carrier offload will be an important growth driver for Boingo and the Wi-Fi industry at large, especially as standards-based seamless offload methods like this become more prevalent in market,” Boingo CEO David Hagan in a news release. “The sheer volume of users in high-volume, high-traffic locations like O'Hare Airport creates data demand thresholds that can tax traditional mobile networks; Wi-Fi offload via Passpoint creates additional data capacity for carriers without forcing users to jump through hoops.”

Verizon filed in support of FirstNet’s arguments that the FCC should consolidate technical service rules for the 758-769 MHz and 788-799 MHz bands under its Part 90 rules (CD Aug 20 p12). “The establishment of a single uniform set of technical rules governing FirstNet’s use of its licensed spectrum will enable it to most effectively implement its statutory mandate to build, deploy, and operate the nationwide public safety broadband network,” said the telco (http://bit.ly/17HTaS3). AT&T (http://bit.ly/1dKvy5i) said it “strongly supports FirstNet’s call for swift Commission action to lift its suspension and begin accepting and processing equipment authorizations in the Public Safety Bands.” The suspension was imposed pending the adoption of technical service rules for the band.