Globalstar’s path forward for offering terrestrial service in its mobile satellite service (MSS) spectrum appears to have several immediate obstacles, said industry executives. Globalstar maintains that the use of its terrestrial spectrum is relatively straightforward since the agency previously approved Globalstar’s use of ancillary terrestrial spectrum. Globalstar, which had its ATC abilities suspended, hopes to regain ATC compliance to use Big Low Earth Orbit L-band (1610-1617.775 MHz) and the S-band (2483.5-2495 MHz) terrestrially. Globalstar has said it should receive an FCC ATC gating criteria waiver, similar to the one received by LightSquared and being sought by Dish Network, that would allow Globalstar to offer terrestrial-only service.
There was little agreement on a Federal Emergency Management Agency webcast Tuesday about when the government should next test the national emergency alert system. Several problems with the simulation have been identified since a Nov. 9 EAS test (CD Nov 18 p1), which was the first time the EAS was triggered nationwide. When Manny Centeno, FEMA program manager for the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, asked the roundtable participants when the next test should be, dates as early as April 1 and as late as November, were suggested.
Independent cable networks split with multichannel video programming distributors over an FCC proposal to extend a requirement that MVPDs not favor their own content over unaffiliated channels to more types of pay-TV companies. A program carriage notice of proposed rulemaking (http://xrl.us/bk3ueg) said any MVPD that owns content should be barred from discriminating in carrying independent channels on the basis of a programmer’s lack of affiliation with another subscription-video provider (CD Aug 2 p10). The American Cable Association, DirecTV and NCTA were among those that objected to that proposal. In other comments posted Tuesday to docket 11-131 (http://xrl.us/bmjswu), Verizon said the NPRM was right to exclude newer MVPDs. Indies that have filed program carriage complaints said they ought not to face discrimination from any pay-TV provider, even if it doesn’t own content.
The FCC will let AT&T and Deutsche Telekom withdraw their merger application, while at the same time releasing the staff memo that gave failing grades to AT&T’s buy of DT’s T-Mobile, agency officials said Tuesday. Chairman Julius Genachowski and members of his staff had been pondering how to take both steps (CD Nov 29 p1). Public release of the memo opens the door for the document to be entered as part of the record in the government’s lawsuit to block the deal.
The Senate won’t move spectrum legislation this year, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday. That development came the same day that House Commerce Republicans reversed position on the 700 MHz D-block, bringing the House and Senate closer to consensus. House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., who previously supported a commercial auction of the D-block, released a new draft of his spectrum bill that would give public safety the license to the D-block. However, House Commerce Democrats, who still have reservations about unlicensed spectrum and some other issues, released their own rival draft bill. The House Communications Subcommittee is scheduled to mark up spectrum legislation Thursday.
NAB warned that the test of a TV white spaces database by Spectrum Bridge found numerous problems that still must be addressed. NAB said the overall results of the tests can only be described as “mixed.” The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment earlier this month on the recently completed 45-day public trial of Spectrum Bridge’s prototype white spaces database (CD Nov 15 p 13). Comments were due Tuesday.
Letting cable operators scramble broadcast TV and other basic channels in all-digital systems was largely backed in comments at the FCC. Scrambling is designed to cut down on signal theft and reduce pollution by eliminating the need for technicians to visit households to turn on and off video. Operators large and small, two nonprofits that had concerns with a first-of-its-kind waiver request made two years ago by Cablevision and local regulators each backed at least some of an FCC basic-tier encryption proposal. The regulators sought more conditions than what the commission’s October rulemaking notice proposed (CD Oct 17 p9).
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and key FCC staff still have not decided whether to allow AT&T to withdraw its application to buy T-Mobile (CD Nov 28 p1), agency and industry officials said Monday. Genachowski would like to make the staff memo on the deal public, regardless of whether the application is allowed be withdrawn “without prejudice,” officials said. If the staff report is released, it could become part of an upcoming trial of the government’s case against the deal in U.S. District Court in Washington. Commissioners have yet to approve through electronic voting either an order sending the application to an administrative law judge for hearing or an order Genachowski circulated the same day approving AT&T’s buy of 700 MHz spectrum from Qualcomm (CD Nov 23 p1), officials said.
Both sides of the debate on shared services agreements were disappointed in the timing of release of a Media Bureau order on a Honolulu SSA, and by what it said. Lawyers who filed the petition asking the commission to bar the deal said its release the day after Thanksgiving seemed designed to avoid attention. Foes of separately owned stations sharing news and other assets said the bureau should have found the SSA involving a major TV broadcaster and an investment firm violated rules barring two top-four rated stations from having common ownership within any market. Lawyers representing other TV stations said they worry that when licenses come up for renewal, broadcasters in SSAs could face questions because of what the order said about the Honolulu pact.
A rule pending before the Office of Government Ethics, to limit government employee attendance at trade shows, could be bad news for associations as well as policymakers, government and industry officials told us. The proposed rule would end the practice of government employees being given free admission to commonly attended events, when the offer comes from groups that employ in-house lobbyists, from CTIA’s annual meeting to the CEA’s International CES.