The Colorado Public Utilities Commission asked the FCC for another waiver of the deadline for adopting uniform eligibility criteria for the Lifeline program (http://bit.ly/WZQRDS). The PUC was already granted an extension from June 1, 2012 to April 1, 2013, but it needs more time because the Colorado Senate is currently focused on repealing its Telephone Assistance Program for low-income individuals, “which would render the eligibility requirements moot and Colorado would become [an] FCC Lifeline default state,” the PUC said. Because the PUC “has no control over the legislative process, including whether or how swiftly a bill becomes law,” it requested that the effective date for the uniform eligibility criteria be extended until July 1.
The FCC released an NPRM asking questions about initial rules to protect 700 MHz public safety spectrum and the adjacent D block from harmful interference as FirstNet moves forward. Comment dates will be set when the NPRM is published in the Federal Register. “First, we address technical service rules for the new public safety broadband network to be established pursuant to the Public Safety Spectrum Act,” the NPRM said. “We next seek comment on the exercise of the Commission’s statutory responsibilities as they relate to oversight of FirstNet’s operations. Finally, we ask how to address different classes of incumbents now occupying portions of the spectrum licensed to FirstNet.” The NPRM (http://bit.ly/10DCPOK) explores such issues as antenna height and out-of-band emission limits in the spectrum, as well as interference coordination and international issues. Costs should be a consideration, the notice said, seeking “specific data and information, such as actual or estimated dollar amounts for each specific cost or benefit addressed, including a description of how commenters calculated or obtained that information, and any supporting documentation or other evidentiary support,” the document said. “We also seek comment on possible alternatives to our proposals that may reflect greater benefits, lower costs, or both.” The NPRM notes that the FCC previously licensed FirstNet use of the public safety spectrum for a 10-year term, and asks how it can evaluate whether “FirstNet has met its duties and obligations” in considering an eventual renewal of the licenses. The NPRM asks a battery of questions about the transition of public safety licensees using the public safety band out of the spectrum and whether FirstNet can be in charge of this transition. “In terms of the timing of such a transition, should the Commission establish a hard deadline by which relocation should be accomplished?” the commission asks. “If a hard deadline is set for mandatory relocation, are there incentives that could be established for earlier voluntary relocation? Should relocation be dependent on the plans made by FirstNet for deployment in a particular jurisdiction? If so, how would such a ‘rolling’ transition work?” The FCC also asks about how it should handle two wideband incumbents using the 700 MHz public safety spectrum, small wideband public safety deployments in Wasilla, Alaska, and Post Falls, Idaho.
The Entertainment Software Association will kick off a national campaign to further educate parents about the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating system, ESA said Monday. The campaign’s “focal point” will be a new series of public service announcements (PSAs) encouraging parents to review the ESRB ratings and use existing videogame console parental controls, ESA said. It didn’t say when the PSAs will start running. The campaign will “connect with consumers in an immediate and sustained way in addition to the traditional mechanisms over TV outlets,” said ESA President Michael Gallagher. Each month, the videogame industry has more than 300 million interactions with consumers via online storefronts and videogame play, and the campaign will take advantage of that, ESA said. It will use the “interconnectivity and reach” of the game industry’s platforms to promote the PSAs and related content, and coordinate with videogame retailers to use their “physical store footprints” and dedicated online networks to educate customers about game ratings and parental controls, it said. It will also work with policymakers to extend the rating system to the broader games ecosystem of smartphones, tablets and online social games, it said. ESA will give consumers information on videogame-specific websites and online stores, and provide PSAs to game industry news and fan discussion websites for use, while encouraging broadcast outlets to run the PSAs on local channels, it said. About 50 percent of U.S. homes have at least one videogame console, and each console has password-protected parental controls that allow parents to limit their children’s game use, it said. For more than 18 years, all video and computer games sold at retail have been rated by the ESRB, and 85 percent of parents of children who play games are aware of the ESRB rating system, ESA said. The new campaign will “build on the already high awareness rate,” it said. In the future, the distribution channels established as part of the campaign “could also provide a platform for other educational and pro-social messages and information,” it said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau seeks comment on proposed revisions to Forms 472, 473 and 474, along with their accompanying instructions, it said in a public notice (http://bit.ly/YTemB2). The forms are used to determine E-rate reimbursement and eligibility. Comments in CC docket 02-6 are due March 27, replies April 8.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau seeks comments on a proposal by Sorenson Communications to adopt a price cap regulatory approach to determine rates for the provision of Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service, a public notice said (http://bit.ly/WZG8t1). Sorenson wants the commission to initiate a price cap rate at $1.6766, which is the average of the rates from 2008-2010, the commission said. Sorenson argues this would result in an immediate savings of nearly 10 cents per minute, the agency said. Comments in CG docket 13-24 and 03-121 are due March 25, replies April 4.
Ethernet backhaul networks provider PEG Bandwidth said it’s expanding its network by building 1,500 new cell sites in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and central U.S. PEG said Monday it will add cell sites to its existing networks in Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, as well as new sites in 11 other jurisdictions: Delaware, Iowa, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia. The expansion will also give PEG Bandwidth access to 20 mobile switching centers and 31 carrier hotels. PEG Bandwidth’s expansion will add more than 7,900 route miles to its fiber network, giving the network provider 11,000 route miles across 15 states when the expansion is finished. The expanded network will support four wireless carriers’ 4G expansions, PEG Bandwidth said (http://mwne.ws/10DxiHT).
A final pretrial conference is set for Dec. 6 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan in Dish Network’s legal battle with the four major broadcast networks over Dish’s AutoHop commercial-skipping feature. ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are seeking contributory copyright-infringement injunctions to bar AutoHop, whereas Dish is seeking a declaratory judgment that AutoHop is legal. By the Dec. 6 conference, all parties “must be trial-ready,” said a scheduling order signed March 1 by U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Fox and released last week.
Correction: What the Media Bureau’s action last week stayed was a December order clarifying the “benchmark condition” of the FCC’s 2011 approval of Comcast buying control of NBCUniversal (CD March 8 p16).
DirecTV and Dish Network said they may have to discontinue The Weather Channel application if they find they can’t comply with requirements imposed in the proceeding on emergency accessibility programming rules. It would be truly unfortunate if the adopted rules “were so onerous that they resulted in the unavailability of emergency weather alerts for everyone,” they said in a joint ex parte filing in docket 12-107 (http://bit.ly/10i0obU). The application “does not have text-to-speech or aural notification capabilities,” Dish said. The companies also said the national feed they receive from The Weather Channel “does not itself include any textual emergency alert information that would be subject to the rules being considered in this proceeding.” The American Cable Association urged the commission to give the requested relief for operators of hybrid digital/analog and all-analog systems. There are some cable systems “that have yet to transition away from an all-analog platform,” ACA said in its ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/YhdNxK). Operators of these systems either have plans to offer some digital services in the future, or no plans to transition “because they see no return on such an investment,” it said. “Absent some significant change in the market or in their regulatory burdens, most of these all-analog systems will likely shut down in the future.” The FCC should refrain from requiring or precluding any particular technology for audio transcription, NAB said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/X4bOmK). The commission shouldn’t require on-site station voiceover announcements for a variety of reasons, including “timely dissemination of emergency information” and “configuration of stations that may be operated in ‘cluster’ or ‘hub’ operations,” it said.
The Homeland Security and Justice departments said they don’t object to the FCC’s tack in an order the commission shared with those agencies Feb. 26 on foreign ownership of common carrier and aeronautical radio licenses under Section 310(b) of the Telecom Act. That second report and order “represents an effort to reach a reasonable compromise based on positions raised by many parties during this proceeding” in docket 11-133, “including those filed by DOJ and DHS,” the two agencies said in a letter posted Thursday in that docket. “Commission staff will continue to coordinate all relevant petitions for declaratory ruling and license applications with the relevant Executive Branch agencies,” the letter said (http://bit.ly/YIBQss). “Such agencies will retain the opportunity to petition the Commission to defer action on, and condition, limit or deny the grant of, petitions for declaratory rulings and applications with foreign ownership, including applications for initial licenses, assignments and transfers of control under Section 310, as well as other sections of the Act as appropriate.” The national-security agencies “will retain the opportunity to request from petitioners, and to evaluate prior to Commission action, additional information relevant to any possible national security and law enforcement concerns,” it continued. The FCC issued a first report and order in the summer (http://bit.ly/13LzXAj). A second report and order circulated Feb. 28, the agency’s list of items on circulation said. It said it was from the International Bureau, the bureau that had its chief, Mindel De La Torre, listed as the recipient of DHS and Justice’s Thursday letter.