Gray Television asked the FCC to require two cable operators to carry the primary program transport stream of KSNB-TV Superior, Neb., on their cable systems. Gray TV filed separate complaints against Antilles Wireless in Kearney, Neb., and Cunningham Telephone and Cable in Glen Elder, Kan. Antilles and Cunningham had no immediate response. The operators have refused to carry KSNB on their systems in the Lincoln & Hastings-Kearney market in contravention of the mandatory carriage provisions of the Communications Act, Gray said (http://bit.ly/14tDODo, http://bit.ly/XEInWl). Because KSNB is located within the same TV market as the Antilles Wireless communities, it’s a local signal, Gray said, and “would not expose Operator to any increased copyright liability.” The station is capable of delivering an adequate signal to Cunningham’s headend, said the broadcaster. If Cunningham still can’t receive such a signal, “Gray commits to purchasing and installing any additional equipment necessary to deliver an adequate signal,” it said.
West Virginia participants in Frontier’s Lifeline Broadband Pilot program, who opt to partake in digital literacy training, will be directed to Future Generations, Frontier told FCC officials in a letter Monday (http://bit.ly/11npJCq). Frontier has decided to use Future Generations, a “prominent digital literacy proponent” in West Virginia, rather than Mission West Virginia, which Frontier had identified as its digital literacy partner on its pilot program application. “Future Generations is a non-profit organization that leverages its connections to provide digital literacy training in firehouses that have been made into community centers throughout the State,” Frontier said. Future Generations is also a grantee of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program for its digital literacy program, Frontier said. “A partnership with Future Generations is completely consistent with the Commission’s program goals,” Frontier said, expecting the new partner to be a “valuable” addition to the pilot program. A Frontier spokeswoman told us that the company has worked with Future Generations on past projects, and using them now was “a natural continuation of our partnership."
Verizon, AT&T and CenturyLink met with the FCC Wireline Bureau chief and an aide to Chairman Julius Genachowski Thursday to urge the commission to grant USTelecom’s petition for forbearance from several legacy rules (http://bit.ly/ZvfcCl). Several regulations, such as Part 32 rules that require companies to maintain a “duplicative and anachronistic set of accounting books,” are no longer needed, the ILECs said. Section 10 of the Communications Act sets out a legal standard that disallows the commission from keeping a reporting requirement “in anticipation of a speculative need for the information at some point in the future,” the groups said.
Vonage expects that any trial giving it access to numbers would be “narrowly limited” to ensure there’s no access to numbers “in markets other than those where numbers are available indirectly through CLECs today,” it told an aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Monday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/11e1Dt1). “Vonage seeks a waiver to permit it to access numbers directly rather than indirectly, not to expand the universe of numbers to which Vonage has access today,” the company said. Vonage also said it would be “reasonable” for the FCC to condition a waiver on the recipient’s getting direct access to numbers only in rate centers where the waiver recipient, and others that access numbers indirectly, would have access to numbers through numbering partners. Vonage said its telephone meeting with the Genachowski aide was exempt from Sunshine period rules because it was “requested” for the “clarification or adduction of evidence, or for resolution of issues” in the proceeding. The commission is scheduled to vote on an order Thursday that could give VoIP providers direct access to numbers for a one-year trial period (CD April 8 p1).
The FCC must ensure that only those areas actually served by 4/1 Mbps broadband are excluded from eligibility for Connect America Fund Phase I support, Windstream told an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn Thursday (http://bit.ly/15djSnz). Windstream expects that more than 80 percent of currently unserved customers in an area enabled for 4/1 Mbps service through the Phase I program would actually get speeds at least 10/1 Mbps, it said. If the FCC adopts its suggested program modifications, Windstream promised to make a “substantial capital contribution” to reach at least 100,000 unserved locations.
"All of Comcast’s cable systems are now CAP compliant,” because they have the “broadband connectivity” needed to get common alerting protocol announcements, it told the FCC in updating a waiver petition. The company was among operators that asked for waivers of a June 30, 2012, deadline for being able to receive emergency alert system warnings in that newer format (CD Sept 11 p1) that uses the Internet and not the broadcast daisy-chain to send out alerts. In June, “a handful of its smallest, most remote cable systems” lacked “the broadband connectivity necessary to monitor for CAP alerts,” and so a waiver was sought, the company said in a filing to the Public Safety Bureau (http://bit.ly/17jGeAc). After seeking an extension to Feb. 28, 2013, Comcast became compliant with the emergency warning rules “with a satellite-based delivery solution through EMnet” and completed that in February, said the filing Monday in docket 04-296.
About 20 percent of Sinclair’s TV stations will be Fox affiliates after it buys Fisher Communications (CD April 16 p14), said Moody’s. The ratings firm said that means Sinclair will remain one of the largest affiliate members of the News Corp.-owned broadcast network. Fisher has two Fox affiliates, and the combined company will have 29, Moody’s said in an investor email Monday. “The transaction brings attractive west coast markets of Seattle and Portland and is consistent with Sinclair’s recent actions to expand its footprint with improving geographic, network and market size diversity. Management expects to achieve meaningful revenue and expense synergies, including higher retransmission fees."
International Launch Services delivered Telesat’s Anik G1 satellite into orbit on an ILS Proton. The satellite was launched Tuesday from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, ILS said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/XEu9EL). Anik G1 has transponders for C-, Ku-, and X-band communications, it said. The satellite, positioned at 107.3 degrees west, will provide direct-to-home TV service in Canada, “as well as broadband, voice, data and video services in South America where economic growth has driven high demand for satellite capacity,” the company said.
The Eutelsat 3D satellite is being prepared for a planned May 14 launch. The satellite will be launched on a Proton Breeze M rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Eutelsat said in a news release (http://bit.ly/17E8Irr). It said the satellite was manufactured by Thales Alenia Space and will be located at 3 degrees east. With a configuration of Ku and Ka transponders, the new satellite will serve customers in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, Eutelsat said.
Comments are due May 13, replies May 28, on a March 20 NPRM seeking comment on “approaches to improve the reliability and resiliency of the communications infrastructure necessary to ensure continued availability of the Nation’s 911 emergency communications system, particularly during times of major disaster,” the FCC said (http://bit.ly/170xr87). The deadline comes with publication of a summary of the NPRM in the Federal Register.