CTA recently finished canvassing consumers for a project in partnership with NAB to fashion an ATSC 3.0 certification logo that would adorn compliant TVs and other receivers when those products arrive at retail, Lesley Rohrbaugh, CTA director-research, told the ATSC Next-Gen TV Conference Thursday. She wouldn’t comment on which logos emerged as the biggest winners.
“No aspects” of NAB’s proposal to relax radio subcap rules “would require, or even directly encourage” radio groups to sell off their AM stations, the association replied on the quadrennial review in docket 18-349 (see story in the May 2 issue). The FCC shouldn't reject FM ownership deregulation “based on speculation about reduced demand for AM stations,” NAB said. “That would be the regulatory equivalent of cutting off radio’s nose to spite its face.” Other filers disagreed, in comments posted later Thursday.
The FCC and competition aren’t enough to protect customers from service-quality problems on IP-based connections, said California Public Utilities Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves. At the CPUC's meeting Thursday, she slammed the FCC’s 3-2 Wednesday report showing a narrowing digital divide (see 1905290017) and urged the California legislature to allow the state to regulate VoIP. Commissioner Cliff Rechtschaffen said carriers aren’t doing enough to ensure adequate service quality and questioned the effectiveness of a California policy that allows companies to avoid penalties.
The Trump administration released two reports Thursday on the future of spectrum and 5G. By the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, they are part of the administration’s broader pursuit of a national spectrum strategy, as directed by President Donald Trump last year (see 1810250058). Among the recommendations are receiver standards and more sophisticated sharing.
Broadcasters aren't sure precisely what the most profitable application for ATSC 3.0 will be, but the financial viability of the new standard isn't dependent on getting the tech into phone handsets, said industry officials from Fox, Nexstar and Tegna at the 2019 Next Gen TV Conference Thursday. Inclusion in mobile phones “would be nice to have, but none of us were counting on that when we made the investment,” said Tegna Senior Vice President-Strategy Ed Busby. NAB President Gordon Smith at the 2019 NAB Show expressed concern about smartphone makers including 3.0 tech (see 1904080066).
Leased access rules changes on the June 6 FCC commissioners' meeting agenda (see 1905160066) will benefit cable operators and further the declining use of leasing access on their systems, industry members said in recent interviews. Cable "has great, great lobbyists," while leased access operators lack comparable resources, said Bruce Clark, co-owner of TV2, which reaches parts of Arizona and Nevada.
It’s not clear how workable it is for T-Mobile and Sprint to sell off enough assets to start an additional, fourth national carrier, if that becomes a condition to win DOJ approval for their proposed combination, observers said Thursday. It's not clear whether rumors that Justice wants to preserve four national carriers are real or more of a way for Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim to add to his leverage in negotiations with the two companies.
The 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack might have been a premature attempt by North Korea to exploit an underdeveloped cyber tool, said FBI Cyber Division Deputy Assistant Director Tonya Ugoretz Wednesday. There was financial motivation, but the ransomware didn’t allow attackers to collect any ransom, she said at an Aspen Institute event.
Interests representing ILECs and competitive LECs pressed opposing sides in replies mainly posted Wednesday in FCC docket 18-141 on a USTelecom petition for forbearance from selling unbundled network elements (UNEs) to competing telcos (see 1905140012). Incompas argued the Wireline Bureau "should not rely on unreliable data" in current broadband coverage maps (see 1905230043) in deciding, and that USTelecom "attempts to use the predictions of eventual competition made over two years ago to substitute for proof of actual competition today." Incompas said USTelecom hasn't met the burden of proof under forbearance procedures to demonstrate competitors are providing fiber in significant quantity to justify relief to ILECs from selling UNEs.
The fight over banning Huawei from U.S. 5G networks intensified Wednesday. Huawei asked for summary judgment in a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas on the constitutionality of parts of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Robert Strayer, a State Department official, told an American Enterprise Institute forum the risk from Chinese companies is real and can't be eliminated if they're part of a 5G network. President Donald Trump said last week sanctions against Huawei could be part of trade negotiations with China (see 1905240038).