About 30 industry representatives attended Wednesday’s 700 MHz interoperability symposium put on by the FCC and acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn (CD Aug 1 p1), said the agency’s ex parte filing on the meeting. The filing posted Friday listed all the attendees and briefly summarized the discussion. “The parties discussed various matters that had previously been discussed in the record of this proceeding, including: The need for a timely resolution of the interoperability issue; the impact of interoperability on competition and consumer choice; the impact of a lack of interoperability on roaming in the 700 MHz band; the relationship of interoperability in the commercial band to public safety goals; the potential transition timeframe for devices and chips,” the filing said (http://bit.ly/16ObYhQ). “The parties also discussed the various proposals in the record to achieve interoperability, including dual band class proposals, and single band class proposals.” The ex parte filing elaborated on the positions previously staked out by small carriers and AT&T, the lead opponent of a mandate. “Many parties repeated their previous statements that issues surrounding Channel 51 interference and power limits on E Block operations can be decided in parallel or separately from a decision on interoperability in the 700 MHz band,” the filing said. “Other parties repeated their advocacy for a solution to these issues before interoperability is addressed. Finally, parties discussed possible paths to an industry-led solution.” Industry officials said Friday that if no agreement is reached, an order is possible as early as September. That could be Clyburn’s last month as acting chairwoman. (See separate report above in this issue.)

Virgin Media produced $403.1 million in revenue in its first 23 days under Liberty Global ownership, due partly to its TiVo-based services’ net addition of 155,000 subscribers, Liberty officials said Friday on a conference call. Liberty, which completed its purchase of U.K.-based Virgin in June, is “still working on synergies” between the companies, but they will be larger financial-wise than forecast when the deal was announced in February, Liberty CEO Michael Fries said. There were “revenue synergies, cost efficiencies on the Liberty side” and others discovered “once we got inside the tent to get more exposure to the moving parts,” Fries said, not providing additional details. Virgin ended Q2 with 1.7 million TiVo subscribers, having added 720,000 during the past year in the U.K., Liberty officials said. Virgin resells TiVo Premiere DVRs. Liberty also is moving to expand its wireless business across its European business, Fries said. About 16 percent of Virgin’s 4.8 million customers have a quad-play subscription that includes video, telephony and broadband in addition to wireless, Liberty said. Liberty also has wireless in Germany via Unity Media with 190,000 subscribers, and Chile with VTR with 140,100, Liberty said. Liberty ended Q2 with 24.5 million customers across 14 countries, including 21.9 million that received video, the company said. In addition to TiVo, Liberty is pushing to increase its Horizon TV service that had 270,000 subscribers as of June 30, including 185,000 in the Netherlands and 85,000 in Switzerland, where it operates UPC Cablecom, company officials said. Liberty picked up 70,000 Horizon customers in Q2. Liberty, which launched Horizon last fall, will expand it to Germany and Ireland this fall, company officials said. Horizon TV is Liberty’s answer to TV Everywhere, allowing subscribers to share content across devices with a common interface and recommendation engine. Liberty officials conceded the initial launch in Switzerland suffered some operational issues, many of which have been resolved by a “code drop” that enabled faster navigation and a more “simplified menu structure,” said Diederik Karsten, executive vice president-European broadband operations. There also will be a new iPad application released this fall, company officials said. The Horizon set-top, made by Samsung with an NDS interface, features an Intel Puma processor, 1 GB RAM, 256 MB flash memory, six DVB-C tuners and a 500 GB hard drive. It also has two Wi-Fi chips, one for local area network connectivity and another for HD content, and Multimedia over Coax 1.1. The recommendation engine was designed by ThinkAnalytics. Liberty’s Q2 net income narrowed to $8.7 million from $706.8 million a year earlier when it benefited from the sale of Australian telecom Austar to Foxtel. Liberty’s Q2 revenue rose to $3.16 billion from $2.52 billion, benefitting from increases in sales in Germany to $624.6 million from $566 million, and Belgium, $534.4 million from $466.2 million, the company said. In addition to sales, Liberty’s acquisition of Virgin added $13 million in debt and $370 million in capital lease obligations.

On Tuesday night, the Champaign, Ill., City Council will consider a resolution reshaping how the Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband network does business, according to a revised draft of the council meeting agenda posted last week (http://bit.ly/13t2Z6Z). The 107-page document proposes the council approve a second amended intergovernmental agreement between the city of Champaign, the city of Urbana and the University of Illinois. It would create the Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband Consortium, and a policy committee of six stakeholders pulled from the consortium’s members. The parties formed an agreement to craft the fiber network known as UC2B in 2009. The new agreement would transition the management of the network to this private nonprofit entity effective Sept. 30, pending approval from NTIA, which had awarded the project a stimulus grant. The document lays out how the new nonprofit structure would work, while offering caveats that some sections are still under discussion. In a Friday memo, Champaign City Manager Dorothy Ann David recommended on behalf of the city administration that the council approve the proposal. The changes “are now necessary to authorize the parties to transition UC2B as an intergovernmental Consortium that is heavily funded with local public revenues and Federal grant funds to a private, not-for-profit entity that is not reliant upon public subsidy and City staff support,” David said. UC2B member entities will still own the infrastructure, which will be leased to the nonprofit the resolution proposes to create, she said. To receive federal approval from NTIA by Sept. 30, the application to transfer the assets to the nonprofit will need to be submitted by Aug. 15, she said. One concern that arose at a July 24 UC2B policy committee meeting was that the network would, under proposed changes, no longer be under control of the public despite being built with public funds, a meeting summary memo attached to the document said.

Gary Bojczak may face a $31,875 fine for operating a GPS jamming device, said a notice of apparent liability approved by the commission. The unlawful operation caused harmful interference to a ground-based augmentation system operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey “and designed to increase the precision of GPS-based navigation at Newark Liberty International Airport,” said the NAL (http://bit.ly/18S8Dk4). Last year, an FCC agent determined that signals emanating from Bojczak’s vehicle were blocking the reception of GPS signals by the GPS receivers used in the ground-based augmentation system at the airport in Newark, it said. Bojczak “voluntarily surrendered the jammer to the FCC agent,” it said. He apparently committed unlawful operation, used illegal equipment and interfered with authorized communications in connection with the illegal GPS jammer operated near the airport, the commission said.

The Senate confirmed five nominees to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting board, CPB said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1b1Aj6S). The nominees are Jannette Dates, communications professor at Howard University in Washington; Brent Nelsen, political science professor at Furman University in South Carolina; Lori Gilbert, news director at KENV-TV, Elko, Nev.; Bruce Ramer, media attorney at Gang Tyre; and Howard Husock, policy research vice president at the Manhattan Institute.

CEA continues to support a “Down from Channel 51” band plan for the 600 MHz band following the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, it told the FCC in a letter to the agency (http://bit.ly/16plhGV). CEA said it was making additional technical arguments based on “a significant amount of feedback from engineering teams at CEA’s member companies.” CEA said the FCC should: “Identify the amount of paired spectrum available in most markets nationally; For markets which can support exactly this amount, allocate the paired spectrum with an appropriate duplex gap and guard bands for DTV and Channel 37 services; For markets which can support more than this amount, allocate the additional spectrum to SDL [supplemental downlink] (with appropriate guard bands); and For constrained markets where the amount of spectrum is insufficient to support the national paired spectrum, make that spectrum available as SDL -- specifically, allocate a guard band below the 700 MHz services, then SDL, then a guard band prior to DTV or Channel 37 service allocations.” CEA said the 600 MHz band plan poses some tricky technical issues. “But these issues can be addressed through careful consideration of the costs and benefits associated with potential solutions, and a reasoned approach that respects technical realities, consumer demands and expectations in terms of end user devices, and market forces in the design and manufacture of communications infrastructure,” the group said.

Immersion shares closed 4.6 percent lower Friday at $14.27 despite the company reporting stronger results for Q2 than a year ago. Revenue jumped 58 percent to $10.2 million, with royalty and license revenue soaring 68 percent to $10 million. It also had a $776,000, or 3 cents a share, profit, versus a loss of $2.2 million, or 8 cents a share. Immersion’s legal expenses to protect its patents continued to pile up. The litigation-related expense for Q2 was $470,000, Chief Financial Officer Paul Norris said on an earnings call Thursday. As its lawsuit against HTC proceeds in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del., Immersion estimated its expense for that litigation will be in the $1-1.5 million range over the remaining six months of the year, he said. Immersion had terminated an International Trade Commission investigation into the claimed infringement of certain Immersion patents by HTC and opted to focus on its patent infringement suit against HTC in the Delaware court. The only remedy available to Immersion via the ITC would have been an exclusion order against HTC preventing the import of infringing devices into the U.S., Immersion said then. But the remedy available in U.S. District Court would include damages, attorneys’ fees and potentially injunctive relief, said Immersion. Judge Richard Andrews denied HTC’s request to stay the case July 11, according to court documents. A trial will begin “as early as next year,” Immersion CEO Vic Viegas said Thursday. Immersion saw “renewed enthusiasm” for haptics technology in the game market with the announcement of new consoles from Sony and Microsoft, as well as new peripherals coming out of last month’s E3, he said. “In addition to representing a new peripheral opportunity” for Immersion, the PS4 may also provide an additional “revenue opportunity for us” if the console is released with haptics technology as “contemplated under our existing agreement” with Sony, he said. Immersion is also “optimistic” that Microsoft will offer haptics in the Xbox One, he said. “We will know more” about the Microsoft and Sony-related opportunity as the consoles ship later this year, he said. Meanwhile, PowerA, another licensing partner of Immersion’s, will ship a new Moga Pro mobile game controller that will feature Immersion haptics, he said. Gaming accounted for 22 percent of Immersion Q2 revenue, said Norris. That was down from 27 percent in Q2 last year. The gaming revenue included ongoing licensing fees and revenue secured through its royalty licensing compliance program, said Norris. Mobility remained Immersion’s largest segment, accounting for 65 percent of revenue, up from 47 percent. Auto revenue dipped to 6 percent from 7 percent of revenue, while medical fell to 7 percent from 13 percent.

Representatives of Broadway discussed the importance of protecting wireless mics in the 600 MHz band, in a meeting with members of the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force, said an ex parte filing at the commission. Among those attending was six-time Tony award winner Harvey Fierstein. “Mr. Fierstein provided a first-hand, user’s perspective on the importance of wireless microphones, intercoms, and cue-and-control devices to today’s sophisticated theatrical productions,” the ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/15gXOcl). “Audiences accustomed to high-quality sound from motion pictures and home theatres demand the same level of aural experience in a professional theatre setting. Actors can provide subtle, nuanced performances with amplified sound that are impossible if they must strain to play to the back of the house. Stage movements would be dangerous or impossible with microphone cables trailing along."

Shares of Cablevision and Viacom rose Friday, though analysts said it was for different reasons. Cablevision didn’t rule out a sale, though its Q2 results disappointed analysts, while Viacom’s exceeded some expectations. Cablevision’s loss of 20,000 video subscribers to 2.87 million total during Q2 was more than expected, wrote analysts including Citigroup’s Jason Bazinet and UBS’s John Hodulik, in notes to investors. Buoying the Cablevision stock was that during a conference call, executives “ruled out being a buyer but not necessarily being a seller,” wrote Wells Fargo’s Marci Ryvicker. “We do not get the sense that any transaction is imminent or in discussions but would point to [CEO] Jim Dolan’s comment, ‘Never say never.'” Charter and Cox Communications have reportedly discussed a combination. (See separate report in this issue.) Cablevision Q2 sales rose 0.8 percent to $1.57 billion from the year-ago quarter as consolidated operating income fell 26 percent to $197.8 million. The operator has “delivered significant product enhancements, including an across-the-board increase in Internet speeds, our new Multi-Room DVR and our industry-leading Wi-Fi initiatives,” said Dolan in a news release (http://bit.ly/17HXvJl). It said cable-TV sales rose 0.9 percent to $1.4 billion on “continued growth of data and voice customers and higher data rates partially offset by lower video revenues and a decrease in advertising revenues.” Cablevision stock closed up 5.2 percent to $19.61. Viacom sales rose 14 percent to $3.69 billion in the three months ended June 30 from the year-ago FY Q3. Operating income rose 20 percent to $1.09 billion, “as higher Media Networks affiliate fees and advertising revenues more than offset the impact of increased Filmed Entertainment distribution costs for two tentpole releases in the quarter,” said the company’s earnings release (http://bit.ly/19CmaPC). Viacom’s board approved buying back twice as much Class B stock as planned, to $20 billion. Those shares closed up 6.5 percent to $79.17.

The FCC granted a petition by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to extend the deadline to incorporate a third-party identification verification system into its process to detect and eliminate duplicative support as a condition of its Lifeline duplicates database opt-out relief, in a FCC order adopted Thursday (http://bit.ly/13Buh7q). On March 4, the FCC Wireline Bureau granted CPUC’s request to opt out of the National Lifeline Accountability Database (NLAD), established by the Universal Service Administrative Co., because California already had a mechanism in place to detect and prevent duplicate subscribers, but it “conditioned the relief on the CPUC successfully incorporating an identification verification system into its duplicates detection and elimination process” by Thursday, the order said. The CPUC must comply with this condition by Dec. 31.