Univision will add Bounce TV as a digital multicast at its San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif.; Boston; Miami and Tampa, Fla.; Denver; and Raleigh, N.C., stations, Bounce said. The new agreement will bring Bounce TV’s distribution to 86 percent of African American TV homes, and 68 percent of the U.S., Bounce said.
Cox Communications asked the FCC to dismiss a request by KSQA Topeka, Kan. (CD Nov 20 p13), to override the Media Bureau’s denial of the TV station’s request the cable operator be forced to carry it in the same channel as its current digital slot. This year’s order “consistent with all applicable precedent ... reiterated the well-settled principle” that a station’s “channel positioning choice may attach only to its Major Channel Number” on its program and system information protocol, Cox said. For KSQA, that’s Channel 22, versus Channel 12 where KSQA wanted to be carried on the operator’s systems, the company said in an opposition to the application for review posted Friday in docket 12-168 (http://xrl.us/bn5p9t).
Entercom began a licensing deal with a second music label. The owner of more than 100 radio stations and top U.S. radio broadcaster Clear Channel have started royalty deals this year with other labels (CD Aug 17 p6). Glassnote Entertainment Group is “the second record company to directly participate, along with its artists, in Entercom’s over-the-air broadcast radio revenues,” the radio company said in a Monday news release (http://xrl.us/bn5p8w). The agreement is an “important step forward to establishing a new business model that aligns the interests of artists, labels, radio and listeners,” Entercom CEO David Field said.
A Kentucky county judge supported LightSquared’s effort to go forward with the buildout of its stalled terrestrial network. LightSquared will set up its network using no government funding, “and plans to market its services through small local retailers, which will both increase competition and provide jobs,” Powell County Judge James Anderson said in a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in docket 12-340 (http://xrl.us/bn5p9v). Anderson said a goal of his predecessor, Judge Jim Potts, was “a level of broadband Internet and cellular service that would put it on a level playing field with other, more populated counties in Kentucky,” he said: “I encourage the FCC to do everything within its power to bring good cell service to Powell County, Kentucky, and the rest of our state."
The Senate Commerce Committee plans to mark up the renomination of FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and the nomination of Joshua Wright to become FTC commissioner Dec. 18, an industry source said. A committee spokesman would not confirm the timing or location of the markup. The committee held a confirmation hearing with the two nominees last week (CD Dec 5 p6) or (WID Dec 5 p3).
Virginia launched its own text-to-911 trial with Verizon Wireless in three jurisdictions. Customers in York County, and in the cities of Poquoson and Williamsburg are participating in the trial, York County said Monday (http://xrl.us/bn5p4h). Verizon Wireless Engineering Director Richard Craig noted in a statement the role of the company’s SMS911 National Gateway and described working alongside partners in York County and TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. in setting up the trial. “The York-Poquoson-Williamsburg Emergency Communications Center is the first PSAP to use the new SMS911 gateway; a significant step in making text to 911 available for PSAPs more broadly,” York County said. The deployment follows the announcement earlier this year from Verizon Wireless and TCS to make available a national text to 911 solution.
The FCC runs the risk of “short changing” first responders if the commission decides to give away much of the spectrum that is cleared in connection with the forthcoming broadcast incentive auctions, said a House Communications Subcommittee majority memo published Monday (http://xrl.us/bn5pww). And if the commission does so it would violate and squander the broadcast incentive auction provisions of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act, the memo said. The subcommittee has scheduled a hearing with all five FCC commissioners for Wednesday at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn. The FCC’s proposal would provide unlicensed spectrum in a handful of areas -- TV white spaces in some markets, Channel 37, except for in protected areas of the country, the guard bands separating broadcasters from mobile broadband and the spectrum used by wireless microphones. But the Republican commissioners, Robert McDowell and Ajit Pai, said they thought the commission’s September notice of proposed rulemaking allocates too much spectrum to be set aside for unlicensed use (CD Oct 1 p1). The agency cannot afford to give away spectrum if it expects to pay for the public safety network, state planning, research and development and next-generation 911, the Republican memo said. “In the current fiscal climate the FCC should also be striving to raise additional revenue to offset potential budget cuts or reduce the deficit,” it said. The subcommittee majority argued against “artificially increasing” the size of guard bands to accommodate unlicensed use because it is unnecessary and would “reduce revenues and do less to meet broadband demand.” The memo also urged the commission against “picking winners and losers” by excluding parties from the auction, something which the majority said would be a violation of the Communications Act, could hinder broadband objectives and reduce auction proceeds, it said. CALinnovates, a West Coast technology advocacy group, urged the committee to promote actions that will bring more wireless spectrum to the commercial market as quickly as possible. The appeal came in a letter sent Monday to House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. “The government controls approximately 60 percent of the available spectrum, and that amount of control is simply too high in light of escalating consumer demand for commercial mobile services,” wrote the group’s executive director, Mike Montgomery.
Second-screen devices and content aren’t competing with TV but are “complementary” to it, Aslam Khader, chief technology and product officer at interactive TV software company Ensequence, said at an industry conference Monday. Mike Ortman, Comcast vice president-content strategy and operations, and Kirk Dulaney, Sony Electronics executive director-strategic business development, agreed. “Second screen is a must” today, said Dulaney. Viewers should be able to choose the experience they want for TV programs they watch, said Brad Dancer, senior vice president-audience and business development at National Geographic Channels. But second-screen content isn’t viable for every program, he said. TV programmers will learn a lot more about how viewers want to engage with TV programming over the next year, said Ortman and Dancer. “A year is a really short time in the TV world,” said Khader, who predicted the single screen will “reestablish itself as” something that’s attractive despite all the experimentation that will be made over the next year by TV programmers with multi-screen content. Ensequence and Verizon FiOS collaborated during the London Olympics to deploy a one-screen application providing athlete biographies, video highlights and “fun facts” to FiOS viewers, Ensequence said. The results offered strong proof that one-screen interactivity can drive opt-in rates of 39 percent, inspire 60 percent of viewers to repeat usage, and engage viewers for more than two minutes per session, it said.
Florida revamped its pay phone rules largely due to the decline in the number of phones, and to conform with the state’s 2011 Regulatory Reform Act. Operators will now need a certificate of authority or necessity instead of a certificate of public convenience and necessity, the Florida Public Service Commission said Monday (http://xrl.us/bn5puf): “Revised certificate application forms will delete informational requirements relating to operations in other states, proof of technical expertise, financial capability, and managerial ability.” The PSC also axed rules involving “deposited coin return for call incompletions, free access to repair calls, local and long distance directory assistance call completions, and terminating call announcements” among other revisions, according to the commission.
The FCC Wireless and Public Safety bureaus sought comment on a September request by the city of Philadelphia (http://xrl.us/bnq8if) for an 18-month extension of the agency’s Jan. 1 private land mobile radio narrowbanding deadline. “Philadelphia contends it has made extensive planning efforts to comply with the Commission’s narrowbanding deadline,” the bureaus said (http://xrl.us/bn5ptg). “Philadelphia plans to upgrade to a more efficient P25 based trunking system and has secured adequate funding for the project. This transition includes new infrastructure, rebanded channels, new subscriber units, and reconfigured subscriber units. Philadelphia argues that it lacks the personnel resources to meet the narrowbanding deadline, and that various interdependencies with its 800 MHz (National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee) rebanding and upgrade effort, while also assuring uninterrupted public safety communications, have made full compliance impossible.” Philadelphia also argues that “in simultaneously rebanding, narrowbanding, and maintaining its current systems at their highest performance levels, it has experienced a shortage of man-power,” the public notice said. Comments are due Dec. 17, replies Dec. 21.