Cox Communications expanded availability of fee-based technical support to all its broadband subscribers through Cox Tech Solutions, the cable operator said. The service will help customers resolve PC crashes, home networking issues, spyware and virus infections as well as problems installing and configuring new software, it said. “Cox has always provided technical support for its broadband product, but now we can go beyond that to address broader computer issues,” said Vice President David Blau.
Having sold $4 billion in bonds, DirecTV won’t issue more debt this year, analyst Marci Ryvicker of Wells Fargo wrote investors Wednesday, a day after the issuance (CD March 7 p14). It “provides ample cash for its current share-repurchase program,” she said.
Outdoor Channel Q4 sales fell 9 percent from a year earlier to $23.6 million, on lower revenue from its production services unit. Sales at the cable channel itself gained 7 percent to $16.7 million on higher affiliate fees. Profit fell 1.2 percent to $1.45 million. Outdoor Channel stock jumped 20.52 percent in Wednesday trading, closing up $1.26 at $7.40.
Hughes Network Systems will offer a new comprehensive service, the company said Wednesday. Hughes High QoS “bundles satellite capacity, hardware and network management tools with low cost of entry,” the company said. The package operates out of Hughes teleport facilities and is available in North and South America. The services will “give service providers and VNOs greater flexibility in choosing the right solution for their business needs and those of their customers,” Hughes Vice President Sam Baumel said of virtual network operators.
Globalstar said it signed a new credit facility, extending the initial repayment date and easing loan covenants. Among other things, it changes the required date for the 24th second-generation satellite to enter service, and makes other changes to comply with the current launch schedule. The first repayment date now could be as late as June 2013, Globalstar said, giving it “added flexibility to complete the four launches” of its satellites. The new agreement is with its original lender, the French export credit agency COFACE.
FCC members likely will soon approve two items affecting low-power FM stations, agency officials said. They said a rulemaking notice on implementing the 2010 Local Community Radio Act for LPFM stations to be closer on the dial to full-power outlets and an order to wrap up consideration of applications in 2003 for new FM translators ought to be approved before the March 21 commissioner meeting, where they were tentatively set for a vote (CD March 1 p9). The items from the Media Bureau aren’t likely to be very controversial on the eighth floor, and the final versions of the order on the application window and the LPFM rulemaking notice may not change very much from initial drafts circulated Jan. 27 (http://xrl.us/bmxdnu), commission officials said. A bureau spokeswoman declined to comment. LPFM and FM translator interests have been lobbying the agency on the items, ex parte filings in docket 99-25 show (http://xrl.us/bmxdn2).
The National Association for Amateur Radio (ARRL) asked the FCC to reconsider a February staff-level order letting ReconRobotics sell up to 8,000 units of its Recon Scout every year -- a remote-controlled surveillance robot operating in the 420-450 MHz band. The order was from the deputy chief of the Wireless Bureau’s Mobility Division (http://xrl.us/bmq55f). “Without prior notice and without receiving public comment, and without any explanation how it arrived at the appropriate annual sales maxima, the Order established an annual limit of 8,000 Recon Scout device sales for all subsequent years, and allowed unlimited ‘rollover’ of unsold devices from prior years fewer than the annual maxima,” ARRL said (http://xrl.us/bmxddz). “ARRL requests that this letter Order be rescinded, as it is arbitrary, capricious and without evidentiary support.” The robot is used by public safety. “Typical applications ... include checking a building prior to forced entry; searching vehicle undercarriages for explosives; locating hostages, hostiles, officers, and bystanders before a rescue attempt; and searching for survivors in a burning building,” ReconRobotics said in an earlier filing.
Usage-based pricing could prove key to increasing major wireless carrier profits, Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett said in a research note. “The wireless industry is an odd mix, in our view; at once highly consolidated (almost 90 percent of unlevered free cash flow in the industry comes from just two companies) and yet sufficiently fragmented that even the Big Two are earning what we consider to be lackluster returns,” Moffett wrote of AT&T and Verizon Wireless. “If the wireless telecom market is a duopoly, it’s not a very good one.” Public Knowledge sounded alarm bells after AT&T said it was considering letting content providers and app developers pay for the mobile data customers use (CD Feb 28 p17). Moffett sees that kind of pricing as helpful for carriers facing declining profit margins. “Usage caps have, until now, been primarily aimed at limiting runaway consumption, and therefore runaway capex,” he said. “But scarcity-pricing is the prerequisite for the exercise of pricing power. With scarcity pricing in place, reverse billing could easily become not a nice-to-have but instead a must-have ’toll’ for applications intent on reaching bandwidth-capped consumers."
The FCC Enforcement Bureau warned consumers it is specifically not OK to use a cellphone jammer to keep others around you from talking on the phone. “In recent days, there have been various press reports about commuters using cell phone jammers to create a ‘quiet zone’ on buses or trains,” Chief Michele Ellison said. “We caution consumers that it is against the law to use a cell or GPS jammer or any other type of device that blocks, jams, or interferes with authorized communications, as well as to import, advertise, sell, or ship such a device.” The bureau has a “zero tolerance policy in this area,” Ellison said. The bureau has issued some 20 enforcement actions against online retailers in 12 states for illegally marketing more than 200 models of cellphone jammers, GPS jammers, Wi-Fi jammers and similar signal jamming devices, a spokesman said.
European cable operators should partner with over-the-top video providers and deploy Wi-Fi networks to extend their networks beyond the home, said a white paper from Informa Telecoms & Media (http://xrl.us/bmw9rq). Other strategic recommendations from Informa include bundling connected TV sets with triple-play service offerings, focus on offering the “right” broadband speed, not necessarily the fastest, and push more subscribers onto a digital video subscription. “While the challenges facing the cable industry shouldn’t be underestimated, Informa believes cable operators can succeed and grow, provided they focus on maximizing new opportunities,” said Nick Thomas, a principal analyst with Informa.