SiriusXM will begin offering free “access to streaming” this summer to subscribers of its $15.99 monthly Sirius and XM Select in-car satellite radio packages, enabling its largest bloc of customers "to take SiriusXM content out of the vehicle,” said CEO Jim Meyer on a Q1 earnings call Wednesday. “With this step, we hope streaming becomes part of the SiriusXM experience for a much greater number of our subscribers.”
NSA apparently recommending an end to a surveillance program created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that collects information about Americans’ phone calls and texts drew a few cheers in the minutes after The Wall Street Journal report. The surveillance authority would make the recommendation to the White House, which reportedly hasn't made a decision. The NSA declined comment.
It’s unnecessary for Maine to pass privacy legislation regulating ISPs because they’re subject to FTC enforcement, NCTA and CTIA representatives told state legislators Wednesday. A local ISP and consumer advocates urged lawmakers pass a bill prohibiting state broadband providers from using, sharing or selling access to state customer data without expressed consent. The Senate Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee considered legislation from Sen. Shenna Bellows (D).
Maine lawmakers condemned Charter Communications’ corporate citizenship as a top panel Wednesday cleared a bill to require cable companies give nondiscriminatory treatment to public, educational and governmental channels. That bill seeks to empower communities. But another Maine committee later that morning weighed a small-cells measure to pre-empt local authority in the right of way (ROW) to streamline 5G deployment.
A California Assembly panel cleared several industry-backed bills amending the California Consumer Privacy Act, after not taking up a CCPA bill (AB-1760) backed by consumer privacy groups, comporting with expectations (see 1904230036). That bill’s sponsor, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D), abstained from voting Tuesday as the 2018 law’s author and other members approved sending the other CCPA bills to the Appropriations Committee. In Maine, a legislative panel heard testimony Wednesday on an ISP privacy bill (see 1904240061).
The House Commerce Committee's upcoming telecom policy focus is likely to include a mix of issues that will provide opportunities for lawmakers to highlight bipartisan agreement on robocalls and increasing commercial spectrum availability, as well as potential mudslinging over FCC oversight matters, lawmakers and lobbyists told us. The Senate Commerce Committee's coming telecom agenda is less well defined, amid an increased focus on privacy legislation. Lobbyists will scrutinize the committee's next moves as it considers whether to reauthorize the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act. Both chambers reconvene Monday after Congress' two-week recess.
Congress can strengthen the U.S. moral rights framework through legislative amendments and other changes, the Copyright Office said in its long-awaited report on attribution and integrity protections (see 1703300036). The office offered specific amendments for improving the framework, and listed copyright elements it believes are working well and shouldn’t be changed. It began a study in January 2017 of potential changes for protecting moral rights as defined in the Berne Convention (see 1701230061). Tuesday’s report is the first comprehensive look at the U.S. moral rights framework in 30 years.
The 78 percent national TV-station ownership reach cap proposal supported by Nexstar, several other such owners and NAB would create additional room for the company above the current rules, though it’s being couched as maintaining the status quo, CEO Perry Sook Tuesday. With a baseball cap touting “78 percent” sitting on the podium, Sook backed the threshold and discussed ATSC 3.0, Nexstar buying Tribune and DOJ’s definition of broadcast competition. “It is in our national interest to allow a regulated industry such as ours to compete on a level playing field serving our video content, at least domestically, with the virtually unregulated companies that do so,” Sook told a Media Institute lunch.
A key part of the administration’s spectrum plan requires all federal agencies to submit planning documents that include estimates of their needs in 15 years. Those reports were due at NTIA Tuesday.
Samsung's postponement Monday of its Galaxy Fold launch from this Friday to a date not certain validated Corning CEO Wendell Weeks' forecasts last summer that foldable smartphones wouldn't be quite ready for prime time anytime soon (see 1807250008). The first foldables reaching the consumer market will be products “compromising on durability in one direction or the other” because reliable plastic cover materials don’t yet exist for “truly” foldable smartphones, said Weeks on a July earnings call.