State budgets are still confronting challenges of the economic recession, a report from the National Governors Association and National Association of State Budget Officers said. “Fiscal 2013 will likely be a turning point for state tax collections with general fund revenues projected to surpass pre-recession levels for the first time since the onset of the recession,” it said Friday (http://xrl.us/bn6ifv), noting a projected 3.9 percent increase in revenue from 2012. But compared to 2008 levels, spending is down in 24 states. Many face “slow revenue growth and unrelenting expenditure pressures tied to high unemployment” and federal stimulus money that’s vanishing, it said. The fiscal cliff possibilities scare states: “Of greater concern to states now is the significant uncertainty surrounding federal tax and spending decisions, which could negatively impact the economy and federal funding for states.” General fund appropriations for fiscal year 2013 amount to $681 billion, 2.2 percent higher than fiscal year 2012’s $667 billion, but with a slower growth rate than the previous year. Budgets have begun to stabilize but are uncertain, the report said. Advocates for local and state government have tied the precipitous economy to telecom stakes and pointed to the tax exemption status of municipal bonds, which sometimes fund broadband projects, and controversial potential wireless and e-commerce sales taxes as financial necessities for municipalities, especially with a possible fiscal cliff looming in January (CD Nov 20 p2).
The FCC needs to gather data over time through “trend analyses” as a “necessary prerequisite” to “be able to provide a sufficiently reasoned basis for relaxing the media ownership rules,” the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies said. A Media Bureau report last month on what demographic groups own which stations lacks “reliable data dispositive of either how relaxing the Commission’s media ownership rules will favor minority and female broadcast ownership or whether relaxing the rules would not buttress existing market entry barriers,” the center said in a filing Thursday in docket 09-182 (http://xrl.us/bn6ie8). It asked for “more time for the Commission to develop a robust record on minority and female broadcast media ownership before it considers relaxing rules intended to promote diversity.” Democratic U.S. representatives and nonprofit groups opposed to consolidation have made similar requests. (See separate report above in this issue.)
The state members of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service filed the CliffsNotes version of their original 9,000-word amicus brief Thursday (http://xrl.us/bn6ic4). The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had rejected the longer version, giving the board 810 words to make its case (CD Dec 3 p16). “It was originally intended to be helpful to the court, with argument elaboration and complete citations of authority,” said Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner James Cawley, who wrote the brief. “As filed it is a summary argument with virtually no elaboration or citations.” The Joint Board argued the FCC’s USF/intercarrier compensation order violated dual sovereignty by establishing a zero ICC rate for intrastate access charges and requiring state enforcement; relied on an over-expansive interpretation of Section 251(b)(5) of the Telecom Act; and violated due process and Administrative Procedure Act notice requirements with late ex parte contacts and inadequate opportunity for comment. “Industry ex parte contacts intensified up to the Sunshine period,” Cawley wrote. “No one could react adequately and timely to these filings.” - MSS
Michigan is closer to banning teenagers from talking on cellphones while driving. Senate Bill 756 passed to the desk of Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, on Friday, according to AAA Michigan (http://xrl.us/bn6icb). Exemptions include crash reporting, emergencies or crimes. The Michigan House and Senate approved the bill earlier this year, said the auto club, which said it “strongly supports” the legislation.
Consumer devices with High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) will top 2 billion units by 2016, Multimedia Research Group (MRG) said Friday in a research report. The draft codec, due to be finalized in early 2013, will get quick adoption for Internet video streaming over wired and wireless networks to both tethered and mobile devices, MRG said. Smartphones represent the largest product opportunity for HEVC adoption, it said. Others, such as set-top boxes, will not experience the same high rate of penetration -- only the high-end set-top units shipped to pay-TV providers will add the codec, MRG said (http://xrl.us/bn6h97).
Additional Democratic U.S. representatives opposed media ownership deregulation, as a FCC Media Bureau draft order would allow (CD Dec 14 p19). Five Commerce Committee members said they're “deeply concerned with the direction you are proposing to take to address the changing media landscape.” Internet news doesn’t “mitigate” the agency’s congressional “mandate” to promote broadcast diversity and localism, lawmakers wrote FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Thursday. Justifying deregulation based on the growth of online news “ignores the millions of Americans who are not yet online,” wrote Reps. Donna Christensen of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Michael Doyle of Pennsylvania, Anna Eshoo of California, Bobby Rush of Illinois and Edolphus Towns of New York (http://xrl.us/bn6ies). They asked Genachowski not to adopt new rules before following the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ remand to “fully assess” consolidation’s impact on ownership diversity and localism. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and several colleagues want the FCC to “save viable stations” to bolster diversity, they wrote in a Thursday letter that’s in docket 09-182. “Despite the Commission’s congressional mandates, minority ownership is freefalling to almost non-existent levels,” the letter said (http://xrl.us/bn6ieq). It cited figures from the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters showing the number of black-owned radio stations fell 10 percent between 1995 and 2012, while the number of such TV outlets fell 65 percent (CD Dec 13 p24). A bureau spokeswoman declined to comment on the congressional correspondence.
SES’s ASTRA satellite is broadcasting Switzerland’s channel 3+ from 19.2 degrees east. The channel is the first Swiss broadcaster to use SES’s satellite capacities, SES said in a press release (http://xrl.us/bn6h22). The transmission from ASTRA will expand the channel’s reach by about 400,000 households in Switzerland, it said.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Location Privacy Protection Act (S-1223) at a Thursday markup. The bill, by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and cosponsored by Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Conn., Dianne Feinstein, Calif., Chris Coons, Del., and Dick Durbin, Ill., would require companies to get users’ consent before obtaining and sharing location information from their mobile devices as well as encourage law enforcement training and create criminal penalties for GPS stalking. The committee voted down an amendment proposed by Ranking Member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who expressed concerns about how the bill would affect litigants and technological innovators. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., voted for the bill but said he thinks “the bill still needs a lot of work to assuage the concerns of technological innovators.” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said the bill could present problems for law enforcement but voted for the bill as well. “I think [the problems] are minor,” he said, “and we're working together on that.”
Correction: The FCC ruling Globalstar seeks to use its satellite spectrum for terrestrial broadband service is an order in a rulemaking proceeding (CD Dec 13 p8).
The FCC made the right decision Wednesday in approving a text-to-911 further rulemaking notice (CD Dec 13 p12), said groups representing the deaf and hearing impaired, in a letter to the commission released Thursday. “We stand ready to work with the FCC, industry, and public safety trade associations to meet the timelines in deployment, outreach and education, research and development, and regulatory enforcement toward achieving the promise and potential of text-to-911 emergency calling capabilities for all Americans,” the letter said. “We fully expect this process to be contributing significantly toward activation of fully accessible emergency communications capability via text, video, and/or voice as part of the Next Generation 9-1-1 initiative within the next ten years.” The groups that signed include Telecommunications for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing, National Association of the Deaf and Association of Late-Deafened Adults.