American Shipper reports that the Department of Commerce has undertaken an intensive review of a recent committee report that recommended significant changes to the regulations that help control access to certain U.S. technologies by foreign nationals, and it has already begun to implement some of the recommendations such as the formation of an Emerging Technologies Advisory Committee. (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/23/08 news, 08012330, for BP summary of the advisory committee's recommendations.) (American Shipper, dated 01/28/08, http://www.compairdata.com/compairdatanews/080728_010.asp)
GENEVA -- ITU member countries agreed Wednesday to take a first step toward giving nonmembers a bigger role in ITU work to the 2006 World Summit on the Information Society.
Imation stopped making HD DVD blank media at its Oakdale, Minn., factory, throwing all its support behind Blu- ray in a company-wide restructuring, Bradley Allen, vice president of investor relations, told Consumer Electronics Daily.
LAS VEGAS -- Though a shrinking audience threatens the broadcast networks’ established business model, new media distribution platforms offer unique opportunities for content providers and advertisers alike, speakers said at NATPE Wednesday. Unlike passive viewing in broadcast, the Internet makes viewers proactive, which demands new ways of doing business, said Yahoo Sports Vice President James Pitaro. “In today’s world, Internet users are too sophisticated to accept anything but openness. Putting a wall around your content won’t work… From the consumer perspective, there is a willingness to pay. We haven’t seen a shift towards a demand for free content which would push toward more advertising models.”
NDS PVR technology has shipped in more than 10 million set-top boxes, including four to five million DirecTV receivers, Steve Tranter, NDS vice president of broadband and interactive, told us at the company’s New York investor conference Wednesday. About 1.6 million NDS PVR-equipped STBs were deployed in Q4, bringing cumulative year-end totals to 10.4 million, nearly doubled from 5.3 million a year ago, NDS executives said.
LAS VEGAS - National media regulatory policies should enter the digital age, NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker said in a keynote at the NATPE convention. “We need a regulatory environment that makes sense for 2008, not 1948,” Zucker said. “Policy makers need to step up and recognize how different the landscape is today than it was just five or ten years ago. The national/local partnership is at a crossroads. Stations are on the block. Ninety percent of TV audience is paying for TV via cable and satellite.”
The 911 provision in the Senate version of the farm bill would help state and local governments, 911 emergency response organizations said in a letter Friday to leaders of the House Agriculture Committee. “We respectfully request that the Expansion of 911 Access provision… be included in the final bill that emerges from conference,” the letter said. The provision would allow the Agriculture Department to make loans to improve 911 access to entities eligible to borrow from the Rural Utilities Service, including state or local governments or other public entities, Indian tribes and emergency communications equipment providers. Such loans can be used for facilities and equipment to expand or improve 911 access and interoperable emergency communications. Additionally, government imposed fees, including state or local 911 fees, can be used as security for a loan, said the letter. It was signed by the National Emergency Number Association, the 911 Industry Alliance and the National Association of State 911 Administrators.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted to its Web site its report to Congress on the Automated Commercial Environment for the third quarter (April 1, 2007 - June 30, 2007) and fourth quarter (July 1, 2007 - September 30, 2007) of fiscal year (FY) 2007.
Shipper's NewsWire reports that the Census Bureau and the Department of Homeland Security have resolved their standoff over the rulemaking to require the electronic filing of export information. According to the article, the rule for mandatory use of the Automated Export System is expected to be published soon in the Federal Register. (SNW, dated 01/23/08, available at http://www.americanshipper.com/SNW_story.asp?news=82393.)
NCTA stepped up its legal attack on an Oct. 31 FCC order barring exclusive deals between apartment buildings and some terrestrial sellers of TV, seeking a stay of the rulemaking. The part of the order outlawing existing deals shouldn’t be allowed to take effect March 7, as the FCC plans, NCTA said in a Tuesday filing with U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit. NCTA had unsuccessfully sought an FCC delay of the order’s implementation (CD Dec 12 p10), but the agency never acted on the request, said the group’s emergency motion for stay pending judicial review. “The order not only bars such exclusive contracts prospectively -- thus diametrically changing the position the commission took just four years earlier -- but also abrogates exclusive access provisions in all existing contracts.” Such abrogation means cable operators may not be able to recoup existing investments, said NCTA: “There are strong arguments that the FCC has no statutory authority to address this entire subject and that, in any event, it was arbitrary and capricious for the commission to refuse to grandfather existing contracts.” Jan. 16, NCTA asked the D.C. Circuit to vacate the order. That request wasn’t publicized until today. Also Jan. 16, the National Multi Housing Council and National Apartment Association asked the court to toss out the exclusivity ban. The ban violates the Fifth Amendment, said the apartment groups’ filing. The order is “an abuse of discretion, unsupported by substantial evidence,” it said.