Sprint Nextel offers 3G or better service in 12,400 of the census blocks the FCC lists as “unserved” and thus eligible for Universal Service Fund support under phase one of the new Mobility Fund, the carrier said in a filing (http://xrl.us/bmyfhf). Sprint submitted the list of blocks to the FCC for further study. “Eliminating overlapping census blocks will help ensure that the Commission’s policy of providing Mobility Fund Phase I support only ‘where no provider currently offers [3G or higher] service’ is met,” Sprint said. Cellular Network Partnership, serving parts of Oklahoma and Kansas, also found similar problems with the data in the areas it serves, as did WUE, Inc., a carrier in Nevada. CV Cellular of Warren, Okla., said it offers 3G service in 76 supposedly unserved census blocks (http://xrl.us/bmyfki).
The U.S. Supreme Court won’t allow cameras into oral arguments about the national healthcare law, the court said Friday. The court has never allowed reporters to bring cameras or tape recorders inside the court, and won’t make an exception for the March 26-28 case, it said. However, SCOTUS will post audio recordings and transcripts the same day as the case on the court’s website, www.supremecourt.gov, it said. The Senate Judiciary Committee has been pushing to require cameras in the high court by law and approved such a bill (S-1945) in February (CD Feb 10 p3). Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., praised the court’s decision to expedite posting of audio recordings but said he'd rather the court permit cameras and have live audio streaming. “Decisions made at the Supreme Court impact the lives of millions of Americans,” Leahy said. “Just as Vermonters can follow the actions of their elected representatives in Washington on C-SPAN and through webcasts on the Internet, so, too, should they be able to follow the public proceedings of the highest court in the land.” Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, agreed: “Every American should have the opportunity to see and hear this landmark case as it plays out, not just the select few allowed in the courtroom.” C-SPAN will air the SCOTUS audio recordings as soon as they are released, it said Friday. But the cable network is “disappointed that the Court has rejected C-SPAN’s request for TV camera coverage of the oral arguments in this landmark case,” it said. “We continue to believe allowing video coverage of Supreme Court oral arguments is in the public’s best interest."
The biggest low-power FM group continues to have concerns on a proposed order set for a vote at Wednesday’s FCC meeting to process remaining applications from 2003 for FM translators that may occupy space LPFM could use. “To ensure adequate LPFM opportunities in urban areas,” channels “reserved for future LPFM licensing [should] include those available when intermediate frequencies are not protected, using a similar protection scheme to translator stations under 100 watts,” Prometheus Radio Project said. Future LPFM stations should get the same “greater flexibility in the requirements for antenna height above average terrain” as FM translators have, the group said (http://xrl.us/bmyfhq). That “would be of particular value to stations in areas with uneven terrain,” Prometheus said in a filing posted Thursday to docket 99-25 on conversations with Audio Division Chief Peter Doyle of the Media Bureau and with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. The division also drafted an LPFM rulemaking notice, which may be voted on along with the translator order before Wednesday (CD March 8 p12).
The NAB added the largest TV station owner that’s never been a member. Sinclair joined March 1, a company executive and association spokesman told us. The association’s leadership under President Gordon Smith “is intent on guiding the industry in a way that certainly the prior leadership under” President David Rehr, which “was a train wreck,” wasn’t doing, Sinclair Vice President Mark Aitken said. Spectrum issues, which loom large as the FCC last month got authority to auction TV frequencies with broadcaster permission and share proceeds with stations, were among the reasons Sinclair joined, he said. Much “progress” has been made “at really bringing NAB together around consistent messaging,” having more “technical leadership” with the hiring last year of a chief technology officer, and efforts at the NAB’s lab, Aitken said.
The FCC should seek comment in its pending 700 MHz interoperability rulemaking on making revisions to its rules for operating the lower 700 MHz E-block consistent with downlink only transmission, and other interference mitigation restrictions imposed by the agency’s recent order approving AT&T’s buy of 700 MHz licenses from Qualcomm, MetroPCS representatives told FCC officials. “Imposition of such conditions will serve the public interest by helping to accelerate the further development of the Lower 700 MHz ecosystem,” the carrier said (http://xrl.us/bmyffd).
The top 18 cable and phone operators added about 3 million new broadband subscribers in 2011, marking a slowdown from 2010, Leichtman Research Group said. The vast majority of new broadband customers subscribed to cable, as the top cable operators claimed 75 percent of those new customers, LRG said. And the pace of cable operators’ market share gain appeared to accelerate during the year, as cable companies took 82 percent of the broadband additions in Q4. Those top cable and phone operators finished 2011 with 78.6 million subscribers, LRG said.
Free Press continues to oppose the FCC punting on considering diversity issues in the current media ownership review (CD March 7 p4) by putting it off to the next quadrennial review, as a rulemaking notice proposed. “Sound policy making” and last year’s 3rd U.S. Court of Appeals remand of a diversity rule from the last review “require the FCC to evaluate the potential negative impact of further eroding its media ownership limits on ownership opportunities for women and people of color in the context of the current review,” the nonprofit that opposes media consolidation said. It opposes allowing more common ownership of daily newspapers and radio or TV stations within a market because “over-leveraged debt resulting from consolidation has put a number of otherwise profitable newspaper businesses in a precarious financial position,” an ex parte filing said (http://xrl.us/bmyfe3). “To service this debt, these companies have cut jobs and reporting.” Free Press officials met an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, said the filing posted to docket 09-182 Thursday.
Sweetwater Cable TV’s recent letter describing its need for low-cost set-top boxes without CableCARDs “exemplifies the pitfalls of a non-policy of regulation-by-waiver,” the CEA said in a letter to the FCC (http://xrl.us/bmyfbq). As a result, the FCC “proposes to allow basic tier encryption, but is now told by cable operators that the necessary DTAs [digital television adapter or digital-to-analog converters] are not available,” the letter said. “It grants waivers from common reliance based on the purported unaffordability of CableCARD-reliant products, but is now told by NCTA that CableCARDs are the proper and affordable solutions for anyone wishing to offer a navigation device,” it said. It urged the commission not to extend cable operators’ existing CableCARD waivers based on the purported costs of CableCARD-reliant products, or purported shortages of DTAs and HD DTAs.
Assurance Wireless, a Lifeline program of Sprint Nextel, launched its services in Wisconsin. In addition to voice mail accounts and Call Waiting, the service offers Caller ID and access to 911, the company said. Beyond the 250 free voice minutes each month, customers can choose from other options to pay for additional minutes, texting, international calling and more at what were called competitive rates. The service is available for eligible residents in more than 30 states.
The New Jersey Assembly passed the Save New Jersey Call Center Jobs Act (A2651), which requires public disclosure when companies outsource call center services and bars outsourcers from receiving tax breaks and subsidies from the state. The Communications Workers of America claimed the bill would affect companies like Verizon. They claimed the telco has sent thousands of DSL call center jobs to countries like India. “If companies like Verizon won’t invest in New Jersey, New Jersey needs to stop investing in Verizon,” said Beth Cornwall, president of CWA Local 1022. Verizon declined to comment.