SoundExchange told the Copyright Royalty Board it intends to audit the 2009-2011 statements of account submitted by Digitally Imported Inc., and Beasley Broadcast Group, a notice in the Federal Register said. SoundExchange, which collects performance royalties for some digital music presentations, is entitled to audit licensees to verify royalty payments, the notice said.
Putting TV stations’ political-ad files online isn’t easy, Disney executives told an aide to FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, calling it a “complex” task. There are “potential anticompetitive effects of making individual advertising rates information widely available online where competitors in the market and commercial advertisers may anonymously glean highly sensitive pricing data,” the broadcast network and station owner said. Nonprofits seeking more disclosure of the lowest unit charge rates qualified political advertisers pay broadcasters contend putting the entire ad file online isn’t that hard. The Media Bureau is working out details of a forthcoming order on posting most parts of public-inspection files to fcc.gov (CD March 2 p7). “Contrary to comments made by some advocates in this proceeding, there is no readily available one-size-fits-all solution to significantly reduce the burden imposed by the proposal,” Disney said in the ex parte filing posted Friday to docket 00-168 (http://xrl.us/bmw2tx).
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce stressed the importance of spectrum to the economy, in a filing on Verizon Wireless’s proposal to buy AWS spectrum from cable operators (See related report in this issue). “While the Chamber does not take a position on the merits of any particular transaction, we would like to reiterate our views about the importance of additional spectrum for mobile broadband,” the group said (http://xrl.us/bmw2q4). It said the nation faces many significant challenges, but no priority is more important than job creation, and the Chamber views broadband as a means to stimulate jobs and foster economic growth.
With 370,407 CableCARDs installed in Comcast subscriber homes by Feb. 23, the cable operator reported on problems some customers have with the cards that separate security and navigation functions in video devices. “Service issues” arise when customers try to move a card from one piece of consumer electronics to another, because they don’t work “automatically” when that happens, the company said. “The Card and the Host must be ‘paired’ in the headend control system,” the operator said in an FCC filing (http://xrl.us/bmw2q6). “Comcast personnel and control systems are not equipped to handle moving CableCARDs in this manner so these situations require escalation to restore service in the new device. Comcast discourages this practice.” Comcast reported having 215,237 CableCARDs on hand on Feb. 23. The update came in a filing posted Friday to docket 97-80 that corrected figures in an earlier NCTA filing on cable-operator use of the cards.
The co-chairmen of the 9/11 Commission denounced the jurisdictional conflicts over the Senate’s cybersecurity approaches, in a letter sent Monday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Former Republican New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., told the leaders that comprehensive legislation is needed to address the nation’s cybersecurity response and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is the right committee to handle it. “This homeland security issue is too critical for it to succumb” to the “jurisdictional and procedural objections to considering cybersecurity legislation,” they said. Last week Senate leaders from at least six different committees sparred over the merits of two dueling cybersecurity bills, the SECURE IT Act (S-2151) and the Cybersecurity Act (S-2105) (CD March 2 p8). Much like the days before the Sept. 11 attacks, the federal government is “not adequately organized to deal with a significant emerging national security threat,” the letter said. “With cyber attacks becoming more sophisticated and pervasive, it is paramount that the federal government takes the steps necessary to prepare the nation to prevent and mitigate the effects of potentially catastrophic cyber attacks on the nation’s critical infrastructure,” it said.
Major wireless and broadband providers are scheduled witnesses at a cybersecurity hearing Wednesday before the House Communications Subcommittee. The witnesses are AT&T Chief Security Officer Edward Amoroso, Comcast Vice President-Internet Systems Jason Livingood, CenturyLink Chief Security Officer David Mahon and MetroPCS Chief Information Officer John Olsen. A majority staff memo (http://xrl.us/bmw2h8) released Monday offered some clues as the subcommittee’s direction on cybersecurity. “Industry adoption of a voluntary code of conduct and best practices” could enhance cybersecurity, said the majority, saying such an approach has worked in Australia. Current law may restrict or discourage ISPs from sharing information about cyber threats, the subcommittee memo said. “Consumer education is key to securing communications networks,” it said. “Streamlining the ability of network providers to equip consumers with this information and the tools to secure their online lives will secure all networks from evolving cyberthreats.” The hearing follows up on a hearing last month (CD Feb 9 p13). Wednesday’s hearing starts at 10 a.m. in Room 2123, Rayburn Building.
Sen. Chuck Schumer asked the FTC to investigate mobile apps that may steal private photos and address books. The New York Democrat cited news reports that Apple and Google Android apps are able to access and share personal information from devices without notifying the user. In a letter (http://xrl.us/bmw2rp) Monday to the FTC, Schumer asked the agency to check whether the apps’ functions violate the agency’s standard of unfair or deceptive practices. The functions may violate Apple and Android terms of service, but it’s “not clear whether or how those terms of service are being enforced and monitored,” Schumer said. “Smartphone developers have an obligation to protect the private content of their users and not allow them to be veritable treasure troves of private, personal information that can then be uploaded and distributed without the consumer’s consent,” the senator said in a statement. “It sends shivers up the spine to think that one’s personal photos, address book, and who-knows-what-else can be obtained and even posted online -- without consent."
The National Exchange Carrier Association seeks clarification from the FCC “that revenues associated with the new interstate recovery mechanisms adopted in the Commission’s USF/ICC Transformation Order are to be included in the allocation of NECA expenses to Category I.C.,” said an FCC public notice released Friday (http://xrl.us/bmwzzj). NECA’s petition suggested that its requested clarification could be implemented by adding one sentence to the order. Comments are due March 19; replies April 3.
Goodwill between the FCC and broadcasters on spectrum, diminished in the runup to frequency reallocation legislation President Barack Obama signed Feb. 22, ought to get a bump up in the coming months, executives and ex-commission officials said. They said the law all but requires both sides to collaborate so the agency can raise maximum proceeds from selling TV spectrum for wireless broadband use and so broadcasters not volunteering to sell frequencies have channels changed -- or repacked -- with the least amount of viewer and business disruption. Former high-ranking commission officials and industry executives pointed to 2009’s transition to DTV as a model for ways stations and the FCC can work together now.
Two lawsuits targeting the online-video startup Aereo are meritless, Aereo said Thursday. Aereo, which is planning to start offering its services in New York City March 14, was named in two separate copyright suits brought by broadcasters and media networks. Aereo has said it plans to charge $12 a month for a live streaming and DVR service. Under Aereo’s model, each subscriber will rent his or her own antenna and DVR at Aereo’s facilities, and stream programming directly from that device to his or her own TV set, tablet or mobile device.