Verizon Wireless said it will sell part of the 700 MHz spectrum it owns if the FCC approves the carrier’s buy of advanced wireless service (AWS) licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox. Verizon said Wednesday that if the deals are approved it will offer for sale all of the 700 MHz A and B block licenses it bought in the 2008 auction of former TV spectrum. FCC officials have raised concerns about whether Verizon’s purchase of the AWS licenses would give the company too dominant of spectrum position versus its competitors (CD March 30 p1).
The departments of Defense and State released a final report to Congress Wednesday reassessing export controls on satellites and related technologies. It recommends freeing some types of satellites and their components from application of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) rules. The report (http://xrl.us/bm4esv) would allow “industry to compete in the global market,” including satellite exports, said Greg Schulte, deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy. Shifting some items from the U.S. munitions list (USML) to the Commerce Control List (CCL) would allow government “to focus our controls and enforcement on technologies and the capabilities that are truly sensitive to our national security,” he said at the National Space Symposium in Colorado.
Chairman Charles Ergen said Dish Network took the right steps to move toward building out terrestrial service. “We create competition” and “we have credibility,” he said Tuesday at a Silicon Flatirons event at the University of Colorado. “There’s precedent for companies to be able to use their satellite spectrum terrestrially.” Dish did its homework and learned that there was interference and “we went after frequencies that are pretty clean,” he said.
A House panel urged more efficient use of spectrum to prevent a “crunch” caused by accelerating consumer demand. In a hearing Wednesday afternoon by the House Science Subcommittee on Technology Chairman Ben Quayle, R-Ariz., urged continued research and development, as well as a critical review of regulations. But witnesses for CTIA and Cisco said improving efficiency is no substitute for reallocating government spectrum.
Disney, Dish Network, NBCUniversal and NCTA weighed in for the first time on the FCC’s media ownership rulemaking, with replies reaching different conclusions. Disney questioned the very need for the review given the “realities of today’s market” that include the availability of new media. Dish, among those seeking changes to retransmission consent rules, wants the forthcoming order to bar separately owned stations in the same market from jointly negotiating retrans deals. Comcast’s NBCUniversal said local news sharing agreements shouldn’t be attributable under ownership rules. If required, that could bar LNS deals in some circumstances. The NCTA said a question in December’s rulemaking notice (CD Dec 23 p1) about extending carriage rights to a type of low-power TV station that must meet the same rules as regular broadcasters raised its concern.
The House Homeland Security Committee passed HR-3624, the Promoting and Enhancing Cybersecurity and Information Sharing Effectiveness (PrECISE) Act Wednesday, despite committee Democrats’ opposition to what they called a watered-down cybersecurity bill. The author of the bill, Cybersecurity Subcommittee Chairman Dan Lungren, R-Calif., reluctantly endorsed his “slimmed-down version” of the bill that he said offered the greatest likelihood to pass a House vote.
News Corp.’s unprecedented step to suspend some shareholders’ voting rights puts it again beneath FCC ownership limits that were exceeded when the company’s foreign-investor base expanded in recent years. The company said Wednesday it immediately put on hold the rights to vote on matters for half of the portion of a class of stock that’s held by non-U.S. citizens and carry more votes than regular shares. The move means foreigners will no longer exceed the commission’s 25 percent threshold on the portion of voting power foreigners can exercise in the broadcaster, the owner of 27 Fox and MyNetworkTV stations (http://xrl.us/bm4ebg) said.
President Barack Obama’s nominees to the vacant Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (CD Dec 19 p12) assured lawmakers Wednesday that they would seek to strike what they called a proper balance between privacy and civil liberties issues and the effectiveness of the government’s counterterrorism efforts. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nominations, Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said that the country is grappling with “important questions about how our national counterterrorism strategy impacts the rights and liberties of U.S. citizens at home and abroad.”
LONDON -- “It’s irresistible” to move toward using the 700 MHz band for mobile broadband services, the head of the EU Radio Spectrum Policy Group said Wednesday at an IIR telecom regulation conference. The issue of using the spectrum for a “second digital dividend” (the 800 MHz band is now in the process of being set aside in EU members for wireless services)exploded at WRC-12 when many African and Arab countries pushed for its release. Europe was cautious at first but followed along “quite happily,” said RSPG Chairman Roberto Viola. The WRC decision to allow transition after WRC-15 was a major result, and the idea of being able to use the spectrum is heaven for device makers and consumers, he said.
LAS VEGAS -- Two FCC members provided a dose of optimism to broadcasters seeking changes to a draft order that would require TV stations to put their political file information online. During a panel discussion at the NAB Show late Tuesday, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn told broadcasters her office is still taking meetings on the topic. “I can affirm to you that in terms of this process, this office is still open for engagement,” she said.