The Bureau of Industry and Security updated legal authority citations in the Export Administration Regulations in final rule set for publication in the Sept. 14 Federal Register. BIS changed citations to reflect the latest extensions by executive order of export control regulations (E.O. 49699) and the national emergency with respect to the government of Syria (E.O. 27559). The final rule is “purely procedural, and makes no changes other than to revise Code of Federal Regulations authority citations paragraphs,” BIS said. “It does not change the text of any section of the EAR, nor does it alter any right, obligation or prohibition that applies to any person under the EAR.”
Verizon is completing power audits of all facilities, a review expected to conclude in the Washington region by the end of October and nationwide by March, Senior Vice President Kyle Malady told House lawmakers Wednesday. The telco will have better monitoring equipment in place by 2013, he said. Verizon understands the need to communicate better with public safety answering points and the public during disasters, he said. The Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Communications held the hearing on the challenges and future of resilient communications, which emphasized the problems of Verizon as well as the new technologies emergency responders are facing. Its prime focus was Verizon’s June 29 failure to maintain power in Northern Virginia during the derecho wind storms and subsequent 911 outages.
Opponents of the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association’s (ETNO) proposed revisions to the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITR) have misinterpreted the proposal as an attempt to regulate the Internet, said ETNO Chairman Luigi Gambardella in an interview. The U.S. has been one of the most prominent critics of the ETNO proposal in recent months, particularly since it publicly released its own ITR position ahead of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT). Delegates to the conference, beginning in Dubai Dec. 3, will seek a consensus on revisions to the treaty-level ITR. Terry Kramer, head of the U.S. delegation to WCIT, has publicly criticized the ETNO proposal and other nations’ proposals that the U.S. claims could wrest control of the Internet from current stakeholders like ICANN and give it to the United Nations’ ITU (WID Aug 2 p2). The U.S.’s initial WCIT filing also reflected that position (WID Aug 6 p1).
Opponents of the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association’s (ETNO) proposed revisions to the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITR) have misinterpreted the proposal as an attempt to regulate the Internet, said ETNO Chairman Luigi Gambardella in an interview. The U.S. has been one of the most prominent critics of the ETNO proposal in recent months, particularly since it publicly released its own ITR position ahead of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT). Delegates to the conference, beginning in Dubai Dec. 3, will seek a consensus on revisions to the treaty-level ITR. Terry Kramer, head of the U.S. delegation to WCIT, has publicly criticized the ETNO proposal and other nations’ proposals that the U.S. claims could wrest control of the Internet from current stakeholders like the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers and give it to the United Nations’ ITU (CD Aug 2 p1). The U.S.’s initial WCIT filing also reflected that position (CD Aug 6 p2).
Online video distributors don’t completely replace multichannel video programming distributor service, MVPDs and a top OVD told the FCC. Both industries outlined product improvements, in comments on a notice of inquiry for an upcoming commission report to Congress on MVPD competition covering the 52 weeks through June 30. Public Knowledge wants the agency to allow OVDs to operate as MVPDs, which some pay-TV companies oppose. The last, 14th MVPD competition report -- covering four years because annual documents weren’t released as the Telecom Act required -- for the first time reviewed OVDs, and the NOI asked questions about it (http://xrl.us/bnpcgy) for the 15th report (CD July 23 p6).
Online video distributors don’t completely replace multichannel video programming distributor service, MVPDs and a top OVD told the FCC. Both industries outlined product improvements, in comments on a notice of inquiry for an upcoming commission report to Congress on MVPD competition covering the 52 weeks through June 30. Public Knowledge wants the agency to allow OVDs to operate as MVPDs, which some pay-TV companies oppose. The last, 14th MVPD competition report -- covering four years because annual documents weren’t released as the Telecom Act required -- for the first time reviewed OVDs, and the NOI asked questions about it (http://xrl.us/bnpcgy) for the 15th report (WID July 23 p5).
Economic and legal thinking on antitrust enforcement and policy concerning most-favored-nation (MFN) clauses continues to evolve at regulatory agencies and in the courts, antitrust attorneys and experts said Monday at a joint FTC-Justice Department workshop on MFNs. The clauses are used in contracts at different levels of distribution and are used in a variety of markets, said Jonathan Baker, an American University law professor. Some telecom and media deals, such as TV carriage contracts, have MFNs.
There’s no need for a public hearing on the proposed settlement between the Justice Department and three publishers over e-book price-fixing allegations, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in New York ruled late last week. She rejected nearly every argument leveled against the settlement by third parties such as Barnes & Noble and RoyaltyShare CEO Bob Kohn, who submitted a “graphic novel” as a friend-of-the-court brief just two days before Cote’s ruling. “If unfettered e-books retail competition will add substantially to the competitive pressures on physical bookstores, or if smaller e-book retailers are unable to compete with Amazon on price, these are not reasons” to reject the settlement, she said.
The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council is expected to weigh in strongly in the 4.9 GHz band docket. The NPSTC’s likely to argue that the spectrum should continue to be set aside for public safety and critical infrastructure use, rather than opened to broad commercial use. The band, once set aside for federal operations, was reallocated to public safety a decade ago, but has seen little use so far. In June, the FCC agreed to launch a notice of proposed rulemaking asking further questions (CD June 14 p2). Initial comments are due Oct. 1. NPSTC members discussed how the group should respond.
There’s no need for a public hearing on the proposed settlement between the Justice Department and three publishers over e-book price-fixing allegations, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in New York ruled late Thursday. She rejected nearly every argument leveled against the settlement by third parties such as Barnes & Noble and RoyaltyShare CEO Bob Kohn, who submitted a “graphic novel” as a friend-of-the-court brief just two days before Cote’s ruling (WID Sept 5 p4). “If unfettered e-books retail competition will add substantially to the competitive pressures on physical bookstores, or if smaller e-book retailers are unable to compete with Amazon on price, these are not reasons” to reject the settlement, she said.