California’s enactment of the Smartphone Theft Prevention Act (SB-962) and recent industry commitments will likely result in anti-theft kill switch technology in smartphones nationwide, but that may not entirely quell interest in enacting further legislation at the federal and state levels, lawmakers and industry observers told us. California Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB-962 into law last week, requiring all smartphones sold in the state after July 1, 2015, to be pre-equipped with a kill switch that can be activated if the device is lost or stolen (CD Aug 27 p14).
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a final rule to update the legal authority in the Export Administration Regulations to reflect President Barack Obama’s early August decision to allow Commerce to continue to regulate exports through the EAR (see 14080801). Obama on Aug. 7 extended a national emergency associated with the expiration of the Export Administration Act, which initially lapsed in 1994 and has since been renewed annually through executive action. The BIS final rule is effective Aug. 29.
State broadcaster associations from all 50 states savaged the Local Choice proposal, which would overhaul retransmission consent rules and attempt to end TV blackouts. They objected in a National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations letter dated Thursday and expected to be sent Wednesday to the proposal’s authors -- Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., who had circulated the proposal earlier this month. The letter is the latest volley in a lobbying war with the American Television Alliance, a group of several pay-TV companies that launched a national advertising campaign in favor of Local Choice in recent days (CD Aug 27 p7). The American Television Alliance has now posted its newspaper (http://bit.ly/1qLc4zn) and radio (http://bit.ly/1tWlWJP) ads on its website. “If adopted, the proposal will unjustifiably eliminate television broadcasting’s longstanding statutory right of retransmission consent and unfairly single out the free, over-the-air, local television broadcast industry for mandatory ‘a la carte’ treatment,” the state broadcaster associations said, saying Local Choice “will very negatively impact television broadcasters and all of the nation’s viewers.” They “strongly oppose” including Local Choice as part of Commerce’s Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization legislation, expected to be unveiled in September. Local Choice “will destroy localism, including the backbone of our nation’s Emergency Alert System, by denying fair compensation to broadcasters without providing consumers, who continue to complain loudly about the monthly cost of pay-television service, with any meaningful choice or relief,” the broadcasters said. Local Choice would mean “less resources to invest in newsrooms, journalists, and local programming and perhaps even fewer broadcaster outlets to cover local affairs and emergencies in the future” and it would “chill the willingness of broadcasters to cover controversial issues of public importance.” It could chill “the journalistic and editorial decisions of every station” and throw “the economics of the nation’s local television broadcast system into chaos,” the letter said. Mandated a la carte pricing would “increase prices, decrease programming diversity, and result in fewer -- not more -- choices for consumers,” state broadcasters said, worrying it could “upend the network-affiliate relationship with potentially devastating consequences for the networks, for their affiliates and for the financial markets.” There’s also a good chance Local Choice “will likely become the slippery ‘a la carte’ slope that broadly upsets a vibrant and functioning video marketplace.” The state broadcaster associations listed several questions and considerations, asking about what would happen to existing retrans deals and how pay-TV providers would be held accountable. They asked about how Local Choice would affect reverse compensation agreements, which are tied to retrans fees. They plan to visit Senate Commerce members in Washington and in home offices to “further demonstrate our strong concerns,” they added.
The FCC will likely need to wait until LightSquared has a designated owner before taking any action on the company, observers said. With three new reorganization plans on the table in LightSquared’s bankruptcy proceeding, the company’s effort to find a solution could continue through November, a satellite industry professional said. The three options emerged this month after a previous stand-alone plan from Fortress Investment Group, Harbinger Capital Partners, JPMorgan Chase and Melody Capital Partners fell through, the professional said. A confirmation hearing is set for Oct. 20 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, the court said in an order this month.
General Dynamics Information Technology said the Massachusetts State 911 Department awarded the company the contract to develop, build and operate its next-generation 911 (NG-911) emergency communications system. The contract will let Massachusetts replace its legacy enhanced 911 (E-911) system and comply with the National Emergency Number Association’s i3 architecture standards for local and national interoperability, General Dynamics said Monday. The transition to NG-911 “will effectively transform our analog based system into an IP-based system making it compatible with today’s changing technology and communication methods,” said Massachusetts Public Safety Secretary Andrea Cabral in a General Dynamics news release. The company said it recently deployed a NG-911 system in Morgan County, Ohio, and previously deployed more than 50 other E-911 systems.
General Dynamics Information Technology said the Massachusetts State 911 Department awarded the company the contract to develop, build and operate its next-generation 911 (NG-911) emergency communications system. The contract will let Massachusetts replace its legacy enhanced 911 (E-911) system and comply with the National Emergency Number Association’s i3 architecture standards for local and national interoperability, General Dynamics said Monday. The transition to NG-911 “will effectively transform our analog based system into an IP-based system making it compatible with today’s changing technology and communication methods,” said Massachusetts Public Safety Secretary Andrea Cabral in a General Dynamics news release. The company said it recently deployed a NG-911 system in Morgan County, Ohio, and previously deployed more than 50 other E-911 systems.
Concerns raised by rival Neustar about naming Telcordia the next Local Number Portability Administrator (LPNA) have already been addressed, Telcordia said in its final reply comments. To the extent that issues like Telcordia’s ability to stay neutral, protect the security of the network from intrusion and work effectively with law enforcement agencies remain unaddressed, they can be dealt with after the FCC formally awards it the contract, said Telcordia’s filing (http://bit.ly/1vGSFny), posted on Monday.
Radar will remain a key technology in the automotive space, but camera sensors and machine vision technology are poised to push advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) into the mainstream due to low cost, flexibility and multiple use cases, said ABI Research. Automotive camera sensor shipments are forecast to reach 197 million by 2020 from suppliers including OmniVision, ON Semiconductor, Sony, STMicroelectronics and Toshiba, it said. ABI described a “fusion of sensors” combining with radar for forward-looking obstacle detection, pedestrian detection, lane guidance and driver monitoring; with infrared cameras for night vision; and with ultrasonic sensors for automated parking. Advances in RF transceivers, microcontrollers and open platforms will lead to cost reduction by leveraging microcontrollers across multiple sensors, it said. The primary driver for the uptake of ADAS will be the arrival of autonomous driving, ABI said. ADAS is already becoming the subject of regulation, with the European New Car Assessment Programme including the presence of speed assistance systems, autonomous emergency braking and lane departure warning/lane keep assist as criteria to determine safety ratings, it said. In the U.S., similar initiatives are being discussed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which recently proposed changes to its five-star safety program, ABI said.
The FCC should ensure that tools and applications for the timely and economical management of 911 data currently in use remain available to 911 providers at no cost, and that any transition to a new LNPA (see separate report above) must not be allowed to adversely affect 911 data management, the National Emergency Number Association, also known as NENA: The 9-1-1 Association, said in reply comments (http://bit.ly/1AEYa96) Friday, posted to docket 09-109. To the extent LNPA candidates have not been asked about their ability to maintain number portability services 911 providers rely on, the FCC should consider amending the request for proposals to require confirmation that these critical services will continue to be available, the association said.
Radar will remain a key technology in the automotive space, but camera sensors and machine vision technology are poised to push advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) into the mainstream due to low cost, flexibility and multiple use cases, said ABI Research. Automotive camera sensor shipments are forecast to reach 197 million by 2020 from suppliers including OmniVision, ON Semiconductor, Sony, STMicroelectronics and Toshiba, it said. ABI described a “fusion of sensors” combining with radar for forward-looking obstacle detection, pedestrian detection, lane guidance and driver monitoring; with infrared cameras for night vision; and with ultrasonic sensors for automated parking. Advances in RF transceivers, microcontrollers and open platforms will lead to cost reduction by leveraging microcontrollers across multiple sensors, it said. The primary driver for the uptake of ADAS will be the arrival of autonomous driving, ABI said. ADAS is already becoming the subject of regulation, with the European New Car Assessment Programme including the presence of speed assistance systems, autonomous emergency braking and lane departure warning/lane keep assist as criteria to determine safety ratings, it said. In the U.S., similar initiatives are being discussed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which recently proposed changes to its five-star safety program, ABI said.