ValueVision Media Q2 sales increased 2.3 percent from a year earlier to $135.2 million, the company said Wednesday. Its net loss shrank 15 percent from a year earlier to $3.8 million.
The Telecom Act needs updating because the now outdated law is hurting all stakeholders, including minorities, the top Washington executives at the two largest telcos said Wednesday. What’s worse, large portions of the 1996 law are based on language in the original 1934 Communications Act, said AT&T’s Jim Cicconi. Verizon’s Tom Tauke said if lawmakers get the policy right, it will lead to the deployment of more infrastructure and services, and “therefore more economic opportunities made available for people who want to part of the industry infrastructure,” as well as for “everybody who uses it.” They spoke at Wednesday’s Minority Media and Telecommunications Council conference.
The U.S. wireless industry is a catalyst for economic growth, supporting 3.8 million jobs and adding $195.5 billion to GDP in 2011, according to a CTIA-sponsored report by Recon Analytics founder Roger Entner. Based on historical data, every 10 MHz of additional licensed spectrum boosts GDP by more than $1.7 billion and adds 7,000 jobs, Entner said during a briefing at the Progressive Policy Institute Tuesday. Wireless services produced $33 billion in productivity improvements for U.S. businesses in nine categories and industry tax, fee, and surcharge payments contributed $88.6 billion to local, state and federal governments in 2011, the report said. Over the next decade, productivity gains attributable to wireless are expected to total more than $1.4 trillion, it said. The need for more spectrum is driven by consumer demand of wireless services, said Jim Cicconi, senior executive vice president at AT&T. He urged removing regulatory barriers to allow more wireless deployment. Legislators need to re-examine outdated telecom regulations, which were designed to oversee a wireline monopoly which doesn’t exist today, he said. Policymakers also need to address “the function of the FCC in the Internet age,” he said. Protecting consumers against abuse and fraud instead of picking winners and losers might be a more appropriate role for the agency, he said. Meanwhile, regulators need to examine the use of government spectrum and spectrum management, he said. The spectrum legislation passed in February is a good start, he said. “We need to be able to bridge the gap between now and when that broadcast spectrum becomes available,” he said. Much of the spectrum is in the hands of entities that are sitting on it, he claimed. The FCC needs to act quickly to allocate spectrum to entities that would make the most out of it, he said. The agency needs to recognize the importance of the secondary market, he said. The Progressive Policy Institute is a “centrist” that favors innovation and growth and is supported by various entities that support innovation and growth, said Chief Economic Strategist Michael Mandel when asked if the group has accepted financial contribution from wireless companies.
FairPoint claimed its recent move to offer voluntary retirement to its union workers and other labor reductions have enabled it to save $6.6 million. Earlier this month, FairPoint offered its Communications Workers of America employees an early retirement package. Forty-six union workers accepted the program, which took effect March 30. The move would result in annualized operating expense savings of around $3.8 million, the company said. Under the program, FairPoint will provide severance payments of about $2.3 million. Additionally, the company is laying off 32 non-union employees in an effort to “consolidate operating functions.” This would enable savings of about $2.8 million.
A DirecTV unit is selling $4 billion in senior notes, the company said Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bmw6ne). It’s issuing $1.25 billion of 2.4 percent bonds due in 2017, $1.5 billion at 3.8 percent due in 2022, and $1.25 billion of 5.15 percent due in 2042, it said. DirecTV may use the money to buy back stock, it said.
The White House renewed an emphasis on wireless broadband in President Barack Obama’s FY 2013 budget, released Monday (www.budget.gov). “High-speed, wireless broadband is fast becoming a critical component of business operations and economic growth,” the budget said. “The United States needs to lead the world in providing broad access to the fastest networks possible.” The budget also proposes significant funding for cybersecurity research. In total, the 2013 budget proposes $140.8 billion for federal R&D, 1.4 percent more than the 2012-enacted level. The overall increase is the same as the rate of inflation.
It appears that the FCC wants to “pick winners and losers rather than letting the markets work,” AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said about the agency’s scrutiny of spectrum transactions. Specifically, he criticized the agency for applying the spectrum screening standards differently when reviewing AT&T’s T-Mobile USA deal than when evaluating the Qualcomm spectrum transfer that was approved earlier, he said during AT&T’s earnings call Thursday. Meanwhile, the carrier lost $6.7 billion in Q4 partly due to the deal breakup fee paid to T-Mobile, other charges and benefit plan costs.
Google spent nearly as much as AT&T and Comcast on lobbying in Q4 2011, according to quarterly federal lobbying reports available last Friday. Facebook and Netflix also accelerated their Washington spending as debate over online copyright issues intensified in the fourth quarter. Spectrum legislation, the recently dissolved AT&T/T-Mobile transaction and controversy over possible LightSquared GPS interference also drove communications industry lobbying in the fourth quarter, the disclosure reports showed.
DirecTV Latin America (DLA) will launch an LTE service in Brasilia, Brazil, this month with a goal of expanding it to four to five cities in Brazil in 2012 if tests are successful, DLA President Bruce Churchill said at the UBS conference. LTE will be bundled with DLA’s satellite service in Brazil, where it has 3.5 million subscribers, up from 2.8 million in June, Churchill said. DLA also may add LTE to Mendoza, Argentina, where it had been selling a WiMAX service that attracted about 10,000 subscribers. The WiMAX service used 3.6 GHz spectrum, but there “were not a lot people developing in that band” and the equipment required is expensive, Churchill said. DLA will spend about $100 million on new satellites in each of the next three years, Churchill said. Part of the added cost will be for two new satellites that are scheduled to go into service 2014-2015, co-located as replacements at 95 degrees west. Inmarsat will operate the satellites, leasing transponders to DLA, Churchill said. The Space Systems/Loral-built satellites will deliver service to DLA’s Pan Americana region, including Central America and parts of South America, in increasing capacity for HD and 3D programming, Churchill said. The satellites will launch aboard Arianespace’s Ariane-5 rocket from Spaceport in French Guiana. DLA ended Q3 with 1.5 million subscribers in Argentina and about 500,000 in Colombia. Sky Mexico, in which DLV has a 41 percent stake, has 3.8 million subscribers and an entry level program package that carries a $12-$13 monthly fee.
Public Knowledge asked the FCC to clarify how it and other organizations can challenge whether redacted information in the AT&T/T-Mobile and other proceedings should be made part of the public record. Too much of the time, AT&T and T-Mobile have stamped as confidential information they want to keep out of the public view, which is not the kind of “competitively-sensitive information” the FCC ought to protect in protective orders, Public Knowledge said in a letter signed by Legal Director Harold Feld (http://xrl.us/bmfba3).