The FCC should let stations that commit to participating in the spectrum auction “remain dark” until they are sold, said Class A operator WatchTV in a letter to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel filed Friday (http://bit.ly/13qFiyd). The commission should extend the amount of time such a station can go without broadcasting before its license expires, and relax the programming requirements for Class A stations that agree to participate in the auction, said Watch TV. Such measures would let participating stations take actions, “stopping the bleeding,” to conserve costs leading up to a sale in the auction. WatchTV’s stations have “aging hardware” that needs replacement and aren’t profitable, so continued operation “is a financial drain,” said the broadcaster. Rosenworcel should encourage the FCC “to broaden the scope of their contacts with individual broadcasters, so that they will learn more about the barriers which seem to be moving in the wrong direction, decreasing rather than increasing incentives for participation,” said the company.
The FCC Media Bureau granted Catamount Broadcasting’s KHSL-TV and Chico License’s KNVN, both of Chico, Calif., a joint waiver of the commission’s “significantly viewed” rules, said an order released Friday (http://bit.ly/16tEx83). The waiver allows the stations to delete programs that air in Chico on KOVR Stockton and KCRA-TV Sacramento that duplicate programs that air on KHSL and KNVN, said the order. KHSL and KNVN provided evidence from Nielsen that KOVR and KCRA are not “significantly viewed” in Chico, the order said. No oppositions were filed in response to the stations’ petition, said the Media Bureau.
The FCC adopted a third report and order that harmonizes and streamlines rules for tower construction near AM stations, as expected (CD Aug 8 p1). The order establishes a single protection scheme for tower construction and modification near AM tower arrays and designates “moment method” computer modeling “as the principal means of determining whether a nearby tower affects an AM radiation pattern,” said the agency (http://fcc.us/14SSl9P). The order includes proposals suggested by an ad hoc group of radio broadcasters, engineers and equipment manufacturers and was supported by NAB and the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council. The new rules exclude many cases for which measurements were previously required and “streamline the process of determining the impact of nearby tower construction and modification, thereby saving the tower proponent both time and money,” it said.
A preliminary injunction stopping online TV service FilmOn X from streaming content in Washington, D.C., would undermine innovation, restrict consumer choice and “cripple” FilmOn’s business, said the company -- formerly known as Aereokiller -- in filings in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Thursday. Broadcaster arguments that FilmOn is hurting negotiations with advertisers and in retransmission consent agreements are “speculative fears of possible revenue consequences,” said one of FilmOn’s filings. “Plaintiffs are not entitled to a presumption of irreparable harm and have not asserted, let alone provided evidence” that FilmOn’s service is hurting their bottom lines, said the company. A similar injunction was granted against FilmOn in California, and is on appeal in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, while broadcasters were denied a preliminary injunction against Aereo in the 2nd Circuit (CD July 17 p6). The D.C. court should grant a “nationwide” injunction against FilmOn, broadcasters said in a motion requesting the ruling. But such a sweeping ruling would prevent courts in the 9th Circuit case against FilmOn and in a similar copyright case brought against Aereo by Hearst in U.S District Court in Boston from issuing their own rulings, argued FilmOn. Instead, the D.C. court should limit the scope of any injunction to FilmOn’s activities within the D.C. Circuit, said FilmOn. A hearing in the D.C. U.S. District case is scheduled for September, and oral arguments in the appeal in the 9th Circuit are set for Thursday.
Merit Network is expanding its network with more than 2,000 miles of fiber across Michigan’ northern Lower Peninsula and the “economically distressed” Upper Peninsula through a Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grant of more than $100 million, said Anthony Wilhelm, NTIA associate administrator of telecom and information applications, in a blog post Friday (http://1.usa.gov/19ysHf9). The grant is enabling Merit to hook up 16 new K-12 institutions and to upgrade six leased circuits to fiber connections, he said. Merit will now have 79 K-12 institutions on its network and 65 will have fiber connections and speeds of up to a gigabit, said Wilhelm. Three schools in the Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District are getting direct connections to the Merit network, and they share backend technology functions, he said. “By laying the groundwork for a statewide K-12 broadband backbone, Merit lowers the cost of interconnecting intermediate schools districts -- and their wide area networks -- to each other,” he said. “Because Merit does not charge transport fees for traffic that stays on its network, this enables sharing of back-end technology services across multiple intermediate school districts.” The interconnections let districts “aggregate demand” and push down costs, said Wilhelm.
The 30-month reconfiguration period for public safety agencies in the 800 MHz band along the Mexican border gets underway Aug. 23, said the FCC Public Safety Bureau in a Friday public notice (http://bit.ly/1cKCsYM). It ends Feb. 16, 2016. The start date was the one proposed by the 800 MHz Transition Administrator on Aug. 7 (http://bit.ly/1bcQT3w). The U.S. and Mexico agreed last year ago to an amended protocol, which takes into account the FCC’s watershed 2004 800 MHz rebanding order (CD June 7/12 p7). The FCC froze applications along the border until reconfiguration is complete. “The freeze applies only to applications for new facilities or modification applications that involve a change of frequency or expand a station’s existing coverage area,” the notice said. “Applications that do not affect frequency or coverage (e.g., administrative updates, assignments/transfers, and renewal-only applications) are not subject to the freeze."
Space Systems/Loral will build a satellite for Star One, a Brazilian satellite operator. The satellite, Star One D1, will be equipped with C-, Ku- and Ka-band payloads and will be used for telecommunications, television broadcast, broadband and other services in the Latin American region, SSL said in a press release (http://bit.ly/14GGXtr). The satellite will support the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, it said. It will be located at 84 degrees west and is expected to launch in 2016, SSL said.
Verizon Communications and XO Communications are now co-sponsors of the Cloud & Technology Transformation Alliance (CTTA), CTTA co-creator Channel Partners said Thursday. CTTA, which Channel Partners created with the 2112 Group, focuses on identifying emerging trends and developing best practices, Channel Partners said. CTTA’s work includes the Cloud Insights public education initiative, and events like the Cloud Partners conference, set to run Sept. 11-13 in Chicago. Other members of CTTA include AT&T, Cbeyond, Ingram Micro, Juniper Networks, RapidScale and SunGard Availability Services, CTTA said (http://bit.ly/14OaJU8).
Correction: The phone service AARP is fighting to protect is landline service (CD Aug 16 p1).
Fox Sports Digital bought assets of Fanhood, a media start-up company. Fox acquired all of the intellectual property and hired its employees, including Fanhood CEO Brandon Ramsey, who will serve as platform engineering vice president, Fox Sports Digital said in a press release. The transaction is part of Fox’s effort to “help users discover and share sports content in new and unique ways,” it said. Financial terms were not disclosed.