The University of Wisconsin system chose WiscNet to offer research and education network infrastructure and services, after a competitive bidding process, WiscNet said Wednesday (http://bit.ly/Z2YxcE). WiscNet and its relationship to the university system have faced legal and political scrutiny in recent years (CD Dec 26 p7). One 2011 law mandated that the cooperative provider disconnect from the university system by mid-2013. “The WiscNet staff and Board of Directors have been tackling the changes necessary to meet the goals and achieve compliance with changes in state law,” WiscNet said in a blog post this week. “We have plans in place that not only move WiscNet forward, but also support the record-breaking growth WiscNet has experienced over the past two years. As a result of being freed from institutional bureaucracies, WiscNet will experience new flexibilities that will benefit the entire WiscNet community.”
That the FCC Media Bureau issued waiver procedures for noncommercial educational stations to raise money for cleanup of Monday’s tornado in Oklahoma (CD May 23 p16) shows it’s past time to allow without waivers third-party fundraising by NCEs, a supporter of an NPRM proposing that rule change told us. With the comment cycle on the notice ended in August and no order yet, “non-com stations want to serve the public and the charitable sector in this way, and 501(c)(3) non-profit groups want to expand their ability to serve communities,” said National Religious Broadcasters General Counsel Craig Parshall by email Wednesday. “We shouldn’t have to wait for another catastrophe in the headlines before we energize the dynamic partnership that can occur between non-commercial stations and 501(c)(3) non-profit charities.” Also Wednesday, Parshall and another NRB executive told FCC Chief of Staff Dave Grimaldi that the association supports such fundraising, said a filing posted Thursday to docket 12-106 (http://bit.ly/188HCup). It said “any NCE station that does not receive Corporation for Public Broadcasting” grants should be able to air such fundraisers “for third-party non-profit organizations up to 1 percent of the station’s annual on-air time."
ValueVision switched its brand name from ShopNBC to ShopHQ on TV, online, and on mobile and social platforms starting Wednesday, the consumer electronics retailer said in a news release (http://bit.ly/16bMRKd). It said there will be “a gradual transition to the new brand and Internet URL to be completed over the balance of the fiscal year,” as the home-shopping cable channel and e-commerce company’s license to use ShopNBC expires Jan. 31.
Iridium wants special temporary authority granting two of its satellites an additional 60 days, from June 13 through Aug. 11, “to maintain operation of an additional, co-located satellite in its mission constellation,” it said in an application to the FCC International Bureau (http://bit.ly/10pQAvI). It also requested an STA from June 11 through Aug. 9, to keep spare satellite SV023 positioned in a parking orbit, it said in a separate application (http://bit.ly/ZgbbHE). O3b Networks is seeking an STA to do on-site testing and integration of an earth station in Vernon, Texas, “for which it has sought a commission license,” it said (http://bit.ly/18l0VhD). ITC Global requested an STA for a C-band transmit/receive earth station “to provide digital services to and from their Green Canyon 644 oil platform located in the Gulf of Mexico,” it said (http://bit.ly/10ODNlA).
Google Fiber has an agreement with another Kansas City area suburb on the Missouri side. Raytown, a community of just under 30,000 people, will receive the fast fiber service, both the Google Fiber blog and the Raytown website confirmed, without giving details of when to expect the service to be running. The aldermen of Raytown unanimously approved the agreement earlier this week.
The intellectual property enforcement chapter in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) is “the biggest threat to the Internet you've probably never heard of,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a video it released Wednesday (http://bit.ly/18kxmg5). Leaked drafts of the TPP -- currently on its 17th round of negotiations this week in Lima, Peru, -- contain copyright enforcement provisions that would make the Internet “intimidating and oppressive” for users and could force ISPs to filter and remove allegedly infringing content, the group said. The provisions allow for the use of digital rights management software that would prevent users from using their devices in the non-infringing ways they want, the video continued. The negotiation is coming together “in secret through a series of backroom deals that shut out the public” but allow for the content industry’s lobbyists to try “to convince policymakers that more aggressive and draconian copyright laws will lead to more innovation, more creativity and more jobs, but in reality, that is not the case,” the group said. EFF encouraged U.S. users to contact their members of Congress and sign petitions against the provisions in the leaked drafts, in a blog post announcing the video (http://bit.ly/18j4Ziq). Additionally, the group asked users in Peru to object to the provisions by contacting the Peruvian government through non-governmental organization Hiperderecho.
Communications Daily won’t be published Monday, May 27, because of the federal Memorial Day holiday. Our next issue will be Tuesday, May 28.
Poor customer service is costing CenturyLink $250,000. The telco agreed to pay the “voluntary contribution” in response to an FCC Enforcement Bureau investigation into possible violations of the conditions of its 2011 purchase of Qwest (CD March 11/11 p1). As part of the takeover, CenturyLink agreed to make discounted broadband service available at $9.95 a month, and to offer a discount on computer equipment. But the FCC received two customer complaints that called into question whether CenturyLink was abiding by terms of the agency’s order approving the deal. One consumer complained of being told by a CenturyLink customer service representative that anyone wanting discounted broadband service must also purchase CenturyLink’s Lifeline wireline service. Another consumer complained that a representative said the telco didn’t offer discounted computer equipment. The bureau investigated, assigning staff to place calls to CenturyLink’s national toll-free customer service number in August to “evaluate the accuracy of information being disseminated,” the order said. The bureau also asked CenturyLink if it was complying with the deal’s order. CenturyLink responded that it “attempted in good faith to properly train its customer service representatives” about its obligations, but “there had been some confusion,” the order said. The bureau agreed to a settlement in which, in addition to the quarter-million dollar payment, CenturyLink will retrain its staff. The telco is “proud” of its low-cost Internet program, and its role in “improving broadband adoption and use by low-income consumers,” a spokeswoman said. The consent decree will lead to “improvements in our call centers that will make the application process more productive for customers who call in asking about the program,” she said.
Communications companies adjusted their services after a tornado this week hit Moore, Okla. Verizon committed $100,000 in grants for disaster relief and said it will match any workers’ donations to the American Red Cross and Salvation Army, from $25 to $1,000 per worker (http://vz.to/Z02bEf). “We are coordinating with local authorities and bringing in additional resources,” AT&T Oklahoma President Bryan Gonterman said in a statement. “We recommend text messaging for communications with family, friends and loved ones given heavy call volumes. Also, in an effort to help Oklahomans impacted by the tragic tornado, we are waiving voice, data and text overage charges through June 30 for customers in the affected areas.” AT&T customers can also text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10, which will be added to their bills. Verizon Wireless will “waive overage charges for voice, data and text use in the interim for customers on limited usage plans who have had to turn to their wireless service as their only means of communications in the disaster,” the carrier said (http://vz.to/10Q17Dq). T-Mobile also boosted its network and tried to help in other ways, it said (http://t-mo.co/194Qe4c). “Since commercial power continues to be a challenge in the area, we have equipped several of our retail stores to provide charging solutions, and we invite anyone in the community to come in and charge their phones or other devices,” T-Mobile said. It also set up opportunities for its customers to donate by texting and deployed cell-sites-on-light-trucks and cells-on-wheels to boost the network. Sprint Nextel moved its emergency response team to Moore shortly after the tornado to give any responders and officials mobile devices and reliable voice and data networks, a spokeswoman said. Sprint gives over half a million dollars to the Red Cross annually, she said, referring to it as a reliable funding base for such disasters. The company is also redirecting some of the 11,600 lunches, which its Kansas City area workers had prepared days earlier, to Oklahoma, she said. Sprint is also “proactively waiving overage charges for voice, text and data for Sprint services between now and June 30,” it said in a news release (http://bit.ly/10U3aDv), and will give discounts in certain Oklahoma retail stores, the spokeswoman said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency provided “self-sustaining telecommunications” as part of its aid, it said (http://1.usa.gov/16OAMtO).
Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced a bill Wednesday aimed at curbing abusive patent litigation. The Patent Abuse Reduction Act (http://1.usa.gov/14S8p9Q) would require plaintiffs in patent lawsuits to disclose the substance of their claim and their identities, and require the losing party in the suit to pay for the cost of litigation, among other provisions. “These reforms will deter patent litigation abusers without prejudicing the rights of responsible intellectual property holders,” Cornyn said in a news release. The Software & Information Industry Association lauded the bill as a “crucial step toward an effective legislative response to the plague of patent trolls damaging American innovation and our economy."