Ex parte filings: NAB wants to work with the FCC on emergency alerting and “interagency coordination issues” related to the National Broadband Plan, said a Friday filing. Group representatives met with front-office Public Safety Bureau officials at their request.
The Public Safety Bureau held meetings in recent days with representatives of public safety groups to brief them on relevant parts of the National Broadband Plan. APCO said in an ex parte filing that a meeting it took part in had covered: “(1) administrative/technical aspect of the plan, including an incentive-based partner program as well as roaming on commercial networks and priority access when utilizing commercial networks; (2) the Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC); and (3) funding, both for constructing the public safety broadband network and operating the network.” The National Emergency Number Association said, “Key elements presented were increasing redundancy and reliability of the public safety broadband network, improved capacity and performance, and reduced costs for public safety agencies as well as state and local governments.” Bureau officials also discussed the public safety aspects of the plan with representatives of T-Mobile, the Rural Cellular Association and a group called the 700 MHz Block A Good Faith Purchasers Alliance and others, according to filings at the commission.
FCC members of both parties had words of caution about parts of the National Broadband Plan concerning media. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said at Tuesday’s commission meeting that she has qualms about the reallotment of spectrum used by TV stations that the plan envisions. Commissioner Robert McDowell asked the commission to “tread gingerly” regarding set-top boxes. Blair Levin, who’s leaving the commission as the executive director of the broadband-plan work now that the document is complete, said his staff had taken concerns like Clyburn’s into account.
The FCC approved Tuesday by a unanimous vote a brief statement of principles on broadband. FCC Republicans Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker were sharply critical of some aspects of the plan itself, which was not put up for a vote before being submitted to Congress. Both found lots to like in the plan but said it must not be used as a lever for imposing more regulation. Agency officials said the FCC will offer a list in coming days of more than 40 rulemakings that will be begun as a follow-up to the plan.
The FCC approved Tuesday by a unanimous vote a brief statement of principles on broadband. FCC Republicans Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker were sharply critical of some aspects of the plan itself, which was not put up for a vote before being submitted to Congress. Both found lots to like in the plan but said it must not be used as a lever for imposing more regulation. Agency officials said the FCC will offer a list in coming days of more than 40 rulemakings that will be begun as a follow-up to the plan.
FCC members of both parties had words of caution about parts of the National Broadband Plan concerning media. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said at Tuesday’s commission meeting that she has qualms about the reallotment of spectrum used by TV stations that the plan envisions. Commissioner Robert McDowell asked the commission to “tread gingerly” regarding set-top boxes. Blair Levin, who’s leaving the commission as the executive director of the broadband-plan work now that the document is complete, said his staff had taken concerns like Clyburn’s into account.
FCC members of both parties had words of caution about parts of the National Broadband Plan concerning media. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said at Tuesday’s commission meeting that she has qualms about the reallotment of spectrum used by TV stations that the plan envisions. Commissioner Robert McDowell asked the commission to “tread gingerly” regarding set-top boxes. Blair Levin, who’s leaving the commission as the executive director of the broadband-plan work now that the document is complete, said his staff had taken concerns like Clyburn’s into account.
Governmental plans for broadband deployment in the U.S. and other countries should emphasize universal connectivity rather than a limited population’s reaching the highest speeds, David McGlade, Intelsat’s said Tuesday on a panel at the Satellite 2010 conference in National Harbor, Md. Speeds as high as 100 Mbps, although reachable, make sense only for the densest regions, he said.
Gray TV’s Q4 sales fell 18 percent from a year earlier to $77.5 million, the company said as it released unaudited results for the quarter. Most of the decline came from selling political spots. It sold $22.4 million fewer of those than it had a year earlier. Gray’s credit rating is still limited by its strict debt covenants and the trouble it will have complying with them, Moody’s said. The share price fell 9.9 percent.
Wireless carriers may get less in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan than meets the eye, commission officials indicated Monday. Although the plan recommends that 300 MHz of spectrum be made available for wireless broadband over the next five years and 500 MHz total over 10 years, FCC officials made clear Monday that not all will be dedicated to licensed use. The plan also provides substantial detail in its recommendations for the Universal Service Fund, including a phase-out of the high-cost fund. The plan will be presented to FCC commissioners Tuesday. They won’t vote on the plan, only on a mission statement setting out goals for U.S. broadband policy.